Homeless Connect regularly conducts summer visits to member organisations. The aim is to assess service delivery and gather feedback. These visits involve meeting frontline staff, understanding challenges, and informing our advocacy work. The goal is to better support staff and advocate for people experiencing homelessness at a policy level. This August, Homeless Connect visited Simon Community’s adult accommodation service at Flush Park in Lisburn to learn more about their work and challenges.

Simon Community is Northern Ireland’s largest homelessness charity. They offer specialist services including prevention, accommodation, health support, and young people’s services. find out more about what they do on their website.

The Impact of the Simon Community

Simon Community is Northern Ireland’s largest homelessness charity with a mission to end homelessness for people who need their help. They offer specialist support services across Northern Ireland, including homelessness prevention, accommodation services, health and well-being support and young people’s support services. Last year, Simon Community responded to almost 16,000 calls to their free Homeless Support Line and over 10,000 emails. They also paid 179 tenancy deposits to help people secure homes in the private rented sector.

Their overall goal is to provide support that makes a lasting difference. This includes addressing mental health, trauma, and addiction, as well as helping people find permanent housing.

Meeting the Team

Homeless Connect staff, Amanda Elliott (Practice & Participation Manager) and Melanie Bowden (Learning and Development Coordinator), met with Cathy Brolly (Public Affairs and Policy Manager) and Anne Starkey (Accommodation Manager) at Simon Community.

The visit explored how Homeless Connect can support staff on the ground and strengthen service delivery.

Flush Park and Laurel Lodge

Alongside the well-established Flush Park accommodation service for 32 adults experiencing homelessness, a new area of the site opened in March this year. Laurel Lodge opened with 24 self-contained flats. These provide a safe, supportive environment for people with low support needs.

The flats help residents transition to semi-independent living before managing their own tenancies outside Simon Community. Referrals are made internally from across the charity in Northern Ireland.

Supporting Residents

Residents receive person-centred support for housing, health, social inclusion, and budgeting. Staff work hard to break the cycle of homelessness and find safe homes.

However, permanent move-on options are becoming harder to find. Many residents spend longer in temporary accommodation, which also affects staff wellbeing. Despite this, the organisation remains hopeful that collaborative efforts can end homelessness in Northern Ireland.

Advocacy and Government Engagement

Cathy Brolly explained ‘as well as providing temporary accommodation and support to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, Simon Community also conduct research, raises awareness and lobbies Government to help achieve their vision of a society where everyone has a home. In terms of their campaigning work, Simon Community want to see Government take a more ambitious approach to social home development and enhanced collaboration across departments to tackle and prevent homelessness’.

They advocate for more social housing and enhanced cross-department collaboration to prevent homelessness. Cathy highlighted the importance of a collective voice through Homeless Connect to influence government policy.

Training and Development

The Frontline Network (FLN) Autumn-Winter programme aligns with staff needs. Anne highlighted key training topics:

• Hoarding
• Immigration
• Trauma-informed approaches
• Compassion fatigue

Staff also require extra knowledge to support residents with complex needs and maintain their resilience and wellbeing.

A Valuable Visit

The Homeless Connect team left the Simon Community visit appreciative of services like this. Flush Park and Laurel Lodge provide vital, transformative support for people experiencing homelessness.

Join Homeless Connect

Frontline members can access FLN training opportunities and member discounts. To become a member, click here.