Helping the homeless

The government reported that in Kent, the estimated total of rough sleepers is 80. This is up by 10 or 14.3% from autumn 2021 when it was reported that there were 70 rough sleepers in Kent.

As a leading housing charity, we have a responsibility to use our resources effectively to tackle the housing crisis, help those in housing need and provide safe and sustainable homes. Each year we work with local agencies to make sure we're supporting the homeless.

During 2022-23:

  • 33%% of all mhs homes group homes allocated through Kent Homechoice went to homeless households
  • 32% were mhs homes
  • 38% were Heart of Medway homes

Our Big Sleep Out raises funds for Gillingham Street Angels

mhs homes colleagues, community partners, stakeholders and their families (and even some pets) abandoned their comfy beds for a night to raise money for a charity that helps homeless and vulnerable people in the Medway towns, Gillingham Street Angels.

'It's certainly made me more aware of the challenges of being homeless and sleeping rough. Things that I just take for granted, like feeling safe when I'm sleeping'

Our Big Sleep Out to raise funds for charities that support the homeless is held every two years. To find out more about what it's like to join in the Big Sleep Out.

Get involved and shape our services

We have a variety of ways that we proactively engage our customers so they can help improve our services and communities. Our customers have completed surveys, attended focus groups, helped us choose contractors and even been out an about with us on estate walkabouts. 

Here how we worked together with our customers in 2022/23: 

  • Service Standards. These are our commitments to our customers that have been shaped by our customers. We published service standards in ten areas so our customers know what to expect from us.  
  • Damp and Mould. Working alongside our customers we have reviewed our policy, changed our processes, completed additional colleague training and increased awareness amongst colleagues and customers. 
  • Procurement. We have trained customers to help with our procurement processes to evaluate, interview and score potential contractors. 
  • Pest control. We reviewed our policies and made the process clearer to our customers on where we’re responsible for pest control and how we can support them 
  • Energy efficient measures. We made improvements to letters and communications that come from us, and our contractors, and reached out to customers to get their ideas on energy efficiency 
  • Events and community. We organised local events and customer drop-in sessions in our communities. We trained more Estate Champions to support us on estate walkabouts to identify improvements to our communities 

There’s lots of opportunities for you to get involved in improving our services and having your say on how we deliver them.