At a World Homeless Day event attended by local supporters including Woking’s MP, Mayor and the Leader of Woking Borough Council, Woking-based homelessness charity York Road Project announced a full renaming of their services with the titles of their buildings and projects now fitting around the themes Today, Tonight and Tomorrow.

The charity explain that this is to emphasise how connected their services are, and that the support they offer extends far beyond short-term help for individuals in a crisis.

“Thirty-one years ago,” said Cherisse Dealtry, the charity’s chief executive, “we were set up by local volunteers, helping people in need by providing accommodation overnight.

“We are so much more than that now: helping people with their needs Today; helping people with a bed Tonight, and helping people build themselves a thriving Tomorrow.”

The charity’s building on Goldsworth Road was previously called their Resource Centre, and has now been renamed The Today Centre.

Here their team provide support to address people’s immediate needs, including through their daily Drop-In Today sessions, which offer showers, hot drinks, breakfast and warm clothes to anyone sleeping rough in the local area.

They also deliver a number of Support Today projects, including the “Changing Journeys” life coaching service (developed with funding from the Community Foundation for Surrey), as well as outreach across the local area.

York Road Project’s namesake property, on 1 York Road, was recently transferred from Woking Borough Council into the charity’s ownership, and is now renamed The Tonight Centre.

Here they provide short-term, emergency accommodation for up to 10 people at any one time. More than 60 people each year are accommodated in The Tonight Centre for up to 12 weeks per person; with private rooms, food and 24-hour support from trained staff.

The charity is keen to emphasise that their support does not stop here, but continues with their Tomorrow services. They run three buildings of move-on accommodation, now renamed Tomorrow Houses - providing a home to people who need support for six months to two years.

In tandem with their tenancy sustainment service, this provision helps people who have experienced homelessness as a result of particularly complex needs, while they seek their own sustainable accommodation.

York Road Project has also recently established a crisis prevention service, delivered alongside other local charities as part of the Woking Community Resilience Partnership. They hope that this will help reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness in Woking, which has risen every year since the pandemic.

The charity cautioned that this perspective should underpin Andy Burnham’s new nationwide approach to ending rough sleeping, and the government should not be tempted to focus only on short-term solutions.

“That is what we were doing when our charity was set up in 1995,” said Cherisse. “We started by just providing short term help for people’s immediate needs, but we know that’s not the way to actually end homelessness for good.

“We’re incredibly proud that now our services help people Today, Tonight and Tomorrow.”