For many years there has been an increasingly strong emphasis on helping people with alcohol/drug problems through community based schemes such as day programmes and weekly counselling. As a result the residential option has been more and more sidelined and is often seen as an expensive last resort by many Local Authorities. Some Local Authorities only have a very small budget for placing men in residential recovery and most, even if they do, will only fund 12 weeks.

As a consequence we have been taking in homeless men who are desperate for residential recovery but who can't get funding to cover the cost of therapy. Residents can claim housing benefit to help with the cost of housing, but there is no funding for the therapy and rehabilitation which we currently offer without charge. This costs us approximately £200 per week per man. This residential help is crucially important for addicts and alcoholics who are homeless.