Stepping Stones was borne out of the realisation that there are many thousands of charities doing fantastic work in helping the disadvantaged to rebuild their lives, but that often the inability of their clients to access stable, quality housing means that this can be very difficult. Stepping Stones sources properties specifically to meet each individual charity’s needs, refurbishes them, and then maintains them on an on-going basis for the charity’s clients to live in.
We completed our pilot of the project (one four bedroom property) in April 2014. Today, we have partners running the project in Nottingham, Oxford, Leicester, Derby, Northampton, Sheffield, Blackpool, Burton, S.E. London, S. Wales and Belfast with another 51 partners in other areas looking to join the project. We have set ourselves the goal of housing 1,000 homeless and disadvantaged people in the next 7 years. Our longer-term vision is to eradicate homelessness globally.
November 2019 saw us smash our target of 100,000 nights where someone has slept in a Stepping Stones bed rather than on the streets or in a tent, a car or a shed!