About us

Inn Churches provides practical support to those that need it most across the Bradford District. Through our activities we try to empower people who are homeless, vulnerably housed, hungry or cold, helping them to help themselves to make permanent and lasting change with dignity and choice. We work with over 100 other community groups and organisations, and have more than 850 volunteers from 70 churches and the wider community in Bradford.

Our Welfare Hub is our original area of work, and still core to what we do. It works throughout the year to provide permanent and lasting change in the lives of people who are homeless or vulnerably housed. This support is centred around a four-month winter shelter providing emergency accommodation in churches around Bradford from December to March, working with each guest to secure them longer-term accommodation, and supporting them into that accommodation with starter packs of kitchen and household equipment, and access (through the Acts 435 charity) to funding for white goods, furnishings and furniture. We also work closely with other organisations, including the Bradford Homeless Outreach Partnership who are based in our Shaw House premises, to support people into safe and secure accommodation.

Through our food hub we work to ensure that everybody has access to affordable, healthy food. We intercept surplus food and redistribute it to feeding projects across Bradford through The Storehouse. We currently work with Bradford Council and Feeding Bradford & Keighley to ensure that foodbanks have enough food. Through our FoodSavers Network, combining sustainable low-cost food markets with easy access to a Credit Union, we try to reduce dependency on foodbanks and free food provision as part of the wider food support ecosystem, including through twenty two Shaw House, our social supermarket.

Our food education or cooking hub aims to empower, educate and inspire as many people as possible to cook great tasting healthy food for themselves and their families, helping them to understand healthy eating, food safety in the kitchen, a range of different cooking methods, and how to improve their cooking skills. This empowers people to make better food-related choices, as well as reducing social isolation.

Our HBUK brand is a small range of ethical products and opportunities which raise funds for our work, as well as directly supporting people who need it the most.

Our objectives

Inn Churches is a registered charity (#1149792). Our charitable objectives are:

1. the prevention or relief of poverty in west Yorkshire by the provision of emergency and other accommodation, advice and assistance for persons in need who are deemed homeless.
2. to provide grants, items and services to individuals in need, or to other charities or organisations working to prevent or relieve poverty, as the trustees see fit.
3. to promote the physical and mental health of homeless men and women through the provision of shelter, financial assistance, support, education and practical advice.
4. to advance the education of the public and volunteers in the subject of drug awareness, homelessness and other related subjects.
5. promoting social inclusion for those excluded or marginalised from society because of social or economic disadvantage.
6. the furtherance of other such purposes as are exclusively charitable under the laws of England and Wales, as the trustees shall from time to time determine.

Who we help

Inn Churches helps a wide range of people across the Bradford District. We are a Christian charity but our support is available to those of all faiths or none, and we do not initiate conversations about faith. We support people of any race or nationality, with or without recourse to public funds.

Inn Churches operates on Christian values. Our volunteers’ first concern is personal integrity, caring relationships and supporting our guests. We are a non-discriminatory project assisting our guests regardless of race, gender, religion, age, caste or creed. We respect the cultures and religions of all the people we help. In order to achieve this, we ask that volunteers do not undertake discussions about faith unless specifically asked by our guests.

People who are homeless or vulnerably housed

From December to March, our Winter Shelter offers temporary accommodation in local churches to males and females who find themselves homeless, as well as advice and assistance in moving on to more permanent accommodation, and starter packs containing household essentials and bedding to individuals moving into their own tenancies from the streets.

We may also be able to offer advice and support to those who are vulnerably housed to help them remain in their homes, and to keep them warm and healthy through our Warm Homes Healthy People provision of bedding.

We can also signpost to a range of other organisations if our own provision is not appropriate or unable to help.

Our work is part of Positive Pathways, Church Urban Fund‘s five-year homelessness prevention programme. This is designed to help people with experience of homelessness move forward in life and focus on developing a broad range of life skills, with the end goal of attaining permanent sustainable accommodation and community integration. A key strength of the Positive Pathways programme is that we have the flexibility to work with people in a relational way, focusing on wellbeing interventions and providing support over the medium to long term.

People who are struggling to feed themselves healthily or affordably

We are not a foodbank, so those requiring emergency food parcels should seek assistance from their local foodbank.

Our Food Hub provides food to charities and community organisations across Bradford, who are working with a huge variety of different communities and groups, including refugees and asylum seekers, elderly people, children and young people, those fleeing domestic abuse, families, single parents, people with mental health difficulties, local communities and many other contexts. This provision is accessed through our partner organisations (who we are able to signpost people to), and through membership of our social supermarket.

People in this place doing an amazing job for homeless people. This people I tell you have a BIG heart… BIG patience honestly BIG heart.

MP

Thank you so much for everything. I would have died out there.

JD

When I lost my job I had no money to pay my rent. The Day Shelter told me about the project. The first time I came I found everyone really friendly. They asked me if I was hungry and gave me something to drink. I have had a bed every night since the 3rd of January. Without the project I would have been hungry, cold and probably very ill. They have been very gentle, they have helped me in many ways. Having people around me gives me good spirit. I thank you all very much and God Bless. If it were not for Inn Churches I would still have been sleeping in the blue bin outside Natwest Bank.

TC

I really do admire the work of Inn Churches. It’s effective, It’s innovative and works to tackle the roots of poverty, vulnerability and homelessness. They are such an asset to our city and district and I commend them to all who wish to get involved.

Gareth, Charity Consultant

Inn Churches is much needed service, providing help to the homeless and those in poverty. Its great to be able to work alongside another charity who share our heart to reach out to the poor and needy in our very own city. Keep up the good work guys.

Lisa, Bradford Central Foodbank

Inn Churches are an amazing organisation who work in partnership with us on a regular basis. They always have a flexible, forward-thinking and innovative approach. They treat each person they support with care and professionalism. A truly dedicated staff team ensure that people have the opportunity to make life changes moving them away from the traps of poverty. They give their clients a belief that things can be different.

Ruth, Hope Housing

Having worked with in partnership with Inn Churches on several projects over several years, I have found them to be a very proactive and engaging organisation. They prioritise needs of their service users and tailor support accordingly. I know that when I connect a vulnerable service user to Inn Churches they will prioritise their need and work flexibly to maximise the impact of their support. Having also visited their recent Storehouse project I have been very impressed with their approach to supporting vulnerable people in an inclusive way, whilst also using a sustainable working model with huge potential. Ultimately working towards individuals supporting themselves in the long term, they are a very forward thinking organisation delivering practical results and  positive outcomes.

David, Access and Partnerships Development Lead, Carers’ Resource

I first became aware of Inn Churches three years ago when I met Juli. I’m sure we have all said to ourselves in the past, ‘someone should do something about that awful situation’. Well Juli is that ‘someone. She is that rare person who sees problems in our society and actually does something about it. Inn Churches as a charity clearly demonstrates all those values and is making an amazing difference to the plight of the poverty-stricken and the homeless in Bradford and Calderdale. It is a ‘hands on’ charity which really gets to the heart of the problems experienced by the less fortunate in society. What I find particularly impressive is the way in which opportunities such as The Storehouse Project are grasped wholeheartedly and become such an important part of the way in which communities feed themselves. I have no hesitation in supporting Inn Churches both personally and through the work of Rotary, as Inn Churches will become our designated Charity of the Year.

Caroline, Bradford Bronte Rotary Club

Registered details

Inn Churches is a registered company limited by guarantee #8242641 and a registered charity #1149792.

Registered Address: Inn Churches, The Storehouse, 116 Caledonia Street, Bradford, BD4 7BQ.

Auditor: West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO (WYCAS), Stringer House, 34 Lupton Street, Leeds, LS10 2QW.

Bankers: Triodos Bank, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AS | National Westminster Bank Plc, 250 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4AA