We are LGBTIQ+ colleagues, friends & activists who work in the Homeless sector & have lived experience of homelessness & the unique, complex issues our community face. We volunteered to launch the UK’s first LGBTIQ+ Crisis/Homeless Shelter & Community Centre. We launched publicly at London Pride 2017, campaigning alongside the passionate & talented LGBTIQ+ community of activists & artists.
During the summer 2017 we crowdfunded £11.5k. This enabled us to buy a 12 bed tour bus to host the shelter that winter. Through ongoing support from the community & grant funding from the local authority we were able to deliver a professional shelter &demonstrating the need for this vital service on a year round basis.
The shelter has a community centre at its heart to reach those more at risk of rough sleeping & bring
together our community so that marginalised groups do not feel left ‘outside’. The centre will be a mix of
cultural & artistic hub, offering safe daytime refuge & cafe space alongside queer led services, pop-up
businesses & co-working space for marginalised groups. Holistic case work, advice, housing & employment
support will be delivered by Stonewall Housing.
We will be collaborating with several LGBTIQ+ groups to make good use of the space, such as Queerseum, African Rainbow Family & Friends of the Joiners Arms.
The Outside Project is a homeless/crisis shelter & Community Centre in response to those within the LGBTIQ+ community who feel endangered, who are homeless, ‘hidden’ homeless & feel that they are on the outside of services due to historical & present prejudice in society & in their homes. Our aims:
We host & attend events & fundraisers to promote the project, reaching members of the community that hadn’t
considered themselves to be in crisis or at risk of homelessness. We run workshops & sober spaces at
community events eg: Pride events, Grassmovement Festival, Lush on Oxford Street & the Lush Summit, Teen
Challenge, Trans Pride, youth camps.
We are very active on social media, building a large following across sites.
26-08-2019
23-08-2019