Press Release - Unlocking Doors Project

For release:  Tuesday 16^th July 2024

Citizens Advice celebrates after receiving £20,000 of National Lottery funding to help local homeless people 

Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke (CASNS) is today celebrating after being awarded almost £20,000 in National Lottery funding to support a new project “Unlocking Doors” to develop the organisation’s work with homeless people over the next 2 years. CASNS will use the money to develop a Homeless Toolkit that can be used by local homelessness charities as well as homeless people themselves to help them find a home. Unlocking Doors will train and support homeless people to empower them to advocate for themselves more effectively.

CASNS has been providing specialist housing advice to local people since the 1990s – advising 1,617 local people on housing issues last year - 311 of whom were helped to avoid homelessness.

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will provide CASNS with resources to run sessions with homeless people in hostels – and homelessness hubs - helping them understand how to help themselves and other homeless people to secure accommodation and move off the streets and into safe affordable housing.

Unlocking Doors will also allow CASNS to extend our partnership with Expert Citizens CIC – a Stoke-based organisation led by people with lived experience of homelessness – who will assist in the delivery of sessions and support the Homelessness Champions developed during the project’s lifetime.

Craig Browne, Chief Executive of CASNS said

"We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Thanks to their funding we will be able to extend our work with homeless people, who are among the most disadvantaged in Stoke-on-Trent. By developing Homelessness Champions, we will ensure that the outcomes for homeless people are genuinely self-sustaining, making a real difference to their lives."

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030. 

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk   

Ends

Contact

Jude Hawes, 01782 408 675 0r email jude.hawes@casns.org.uk

Photos are available upon request.

Notes to Editors:

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.

We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives. 

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

1. Come together
2. Be environmentally sustainable
3. Help children and young people thrive
4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life. 

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