How the Howarth Foundation is looking to help the homeless with a shop in Armley

Andy Howarth, CEO of the Howarth Foundation, fears that homelessness could rise following the coronavirus disruption.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “I don’t think the ramifications of the current economic climate have manifested at all yet. I don’t think they have surfaced.

“I fear for the next 12-18 months because suddenly the pandemic is no longer in focus because the virus is under control but businesses haven’t been impacted yet.”

Mr Howarth, who set the Leeds-based foundation up four years ago, believes services for homeless people are too “disjointed”.

He said: “There are numerous services out there that are doing a great job. There are people dealing with little pockets of problems of homelessness. There is no joined up solution to this.”

One of the issues with this is that often agencies are competing for the same pot of funding.

“The third sector is not joined up,” Mr Howarth says. “I know we are all fishing in the same pond for funding. There’s only a certain amount of funding to go around.”

The situation is exacerbated as councils are hamstrung and businesses are unable to contribute like they would due to the economic uncertainty.

To try and help alleviate funding pressures, the Howarth Foundation is opening a new second hand shop in Armley, Leeds, called Hidden Owls.

Chris Sylvester, client director at the Howarth Foundation, is originally from Armley. He suffered from addiction problems and was helped by the charity to turn his life around. Mr Sylvester said the shop was an “exciting prospect”.

He added: “I see it as being able to give back to a community from which I had taken so much from in my life by being involved in various crimes.

“I really impacted the community in a negative way. This is the perfect way to demonstrate that people can change and people can give back, which I’m keen on doing.”

The Howarth Foundation looks to help break the cycle of homelessness, addiction and criminality through employment opportunities by working with businesses.

In the past two years it has managed to get 23 people back into employment, 28 back into training and 17 referred into housing.

Prior to launching the foundation, Mr Howarth set up an employment law, HR and health and safety firm.

The expertise at Howarths are used to help any firms that are willing to take vulnerable people on as employees.

Mr Howarth though wants to see a more joined up approach so that the foundation and other charities like it can be more effective.

He said: “You’ve got people providing overnight accommodation. You’ve got people providing recovery programmes but after that it’s back to the streets. There’s nothing joined up.

“We’re trying our best to collaborate with everyone that is offering a service but it’s a struggle for everyone because there is no cohesion.”

The charity has widened its remit to also work with EU nationals facing housing issues.

Despite Mr Sylvester admitting to language issues, he has found the challenge “revitalising”.

He said: “It’s something that I feel passionate about because my ancestry is that my grandad was a Polish refugee. He came to this country and he didn’t have a lot and faced all kinds of persecution.

“It has also been very educational for me because I am dealing with people that are from different cultures. It has widened my understanding of the world and developed me as a person.”

Construction proves to be a supportive sector

A key part of Howarth Foundation’s work is helping businesses provide ex-offenders and homeless people gainful employment.

The pandemic has led to a mixed response with the construction industry particularly willing to continue to offer employment and training opportunities, Andy Howarth says.

Leeds-based Howard Civil Engineering has been “massively supportive”, he added.

However, Mr Howarth says he is disappointed in big retail firms that have been able to stay open not coming forward with employment opportunities.

“It’s been hard for the smaller businesses,” he said. “It’s difficult for them to show support for the charity when they are barely keeping their heads above water.”

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James Mitchinson