homeless | HFS

“A truly inspiring organisation”

12/01/2020H F Sausterity, charity, conservative, cut, DESSS, entitlement, furniture poverty, government, Hastings, Hastings and Rye, home, homeless, homelessness, house, housing, Local Welfare Assistance, Member of Parliament, MP, new MP, politics, poor, poverty, rehome, rehouse, resettle, resettlement, rough sleeping, tory, welfare cuts, welfare rights

Hastings MP Sally-Ann Hart visited HFS to find out more about furniture poverty on Saturday 11th January.

As we showed her around our Hastings store, we talked about how important it is for people’s dignity and independence to have a choice of affordable furniture and white goods, how providing furniture helps people recover from crises like domestic violence, homelessness or a home fire, and outlined our partnership work furnishing homes for resettling households.

We explained how the loss of LWA (Local Welfare Assistance) funds from the Government had removed the safety net for people setting up or maintaining homes after crisis.

Hastings MP finds out about furniture poverty at HFS

Sally-Ann says “ HFS is a truly inspiring organisation!”

“It was great to hear from the staff about the work they are doing to help the lowest paid, but also support those individuals currently out of work by getting them the training and skills they need to gain employment.”

“I will be advocating for improved early intervention and prevention services, particularly for children, young people and families. Early intervention can prevent further problems from developing. As it is more effective to provide early help when problems first arise than to intervene later, we need to focus more closely on early intervention holistically, looking at the wider needs of an individual or family. This might require more funding initially, but will save money in the long term. More importantly, successful early intervention will give our local residents the best chance of thriving.”

no-one should be without a bed

28/11/2019H F Sartist, Battle, bed, bedslat, Bexhill, Bexhill on sea, cause, charity, christmas, creative, creative fundraising, deprivation, destitution, donate, East Sussex, furniture, furniture poverty, Hastings, home, homeless, homelessness, housing, low income, lucky budgie, make a difference, modernist, pea crabtree, poor, poverty, sleep, St Leonards, sussex community foundation, sussex uncovered

The stylish modernist lobby of the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill is adorned with a striking upcycled Christmas tree this Winter. Bearing the message “no-one should be without a comfy bed”, the bedslat tree is the work of local charity Hastings & Rother Furniture Service.

The plinth doubles as a collecting pot for donations to help the charity provide essential furniture for local families in desperate need.

“We’ve seen families that have had to pile old cardboard on the floor for their kids to sleep on, and been really proud to deliver affordable reused beds for them.” says Pea Crabtree, the creative behind the tree and a full-time worker for HFS.
Pea Crabtree

The tree is made from broken and bowed bed-slats we can’t reuse. We hope it will make people think about how furniture poverty affects families in our area. No-one should be without something as crucial as a bed.

In recent years the government has slashed funding for Local Welfare Assistance schemes. In East Sussex, support to help families in crisis set up home fell from £1.2m in 2013 to £166,000 in 2018. This drastic cut (over 86%) means charities like HFS are no longer funded to provide furniture for people in crisis, such as families moving on from temporary accommodation, Refuges or homelessness.

The report published this week by Sussex Community Foundation underlines the need for services like these. The report, Sussex Uncovered, says 37,000 children in Sussex are living in poverty and reports massive increases in homelessness in Hastings and Rother.

We hope people will donate to help HFS meet the needs of people in our community. Please pop a donation in to the tree at DLWP, into your local HFS store, and please think of us if you are replacing furniture or electricals at home. We provide a free collection service for good, reusable home items throughout Hastings and Rother.

No-one should be without a bed.

Make a donation

Pop Up

21/05/2019H F Saffordable furniture, armchair, bargain, benefits, chair, charity, cheap, chest, clearance, collection, dining, donate furniture, drawers, East Sussex, furniture, Hastings, help, home, homeless, house, household, low income, low-cost, Pop-up shop, recycling, rehouse, repaint, resettle, reuse, second-hand furniture, social enterprise, sofa, sussex, table, volunteer, volunteering, wardrobe

We’re excited to announce that HFS Hastings will be relocating to the Priory Meadow shopping centre temporarily.

The pop-up store will give us a chance to reach more people and reuse even more furniture.

It will also enable us to redecorate our full-time premises in Dorset Place. We haven’t seen most of the walls or floor since we moved in after our re-build in 2007, so we can’t wait to give it a lick of paint!

The pop-up is on a rent-free “meanwhile” basis, while the landlord looks for a new paying tenant. We are moving on Tues and Weds (21-22 May). Hastings store will be closed on Weds 22nd.

The new store will open at lunchtime on Thurs 23rd May

Open Tues-Sat 9.30-4.30

Phone 01424 44 11 12

Address SU2 (former Top Shop) Priory Meadow Hastings TN34 1PH

Your vote counts!

02/06/2017H F Sconstituency, democracy, domestic violence survivors, election, Hastings and Rye, help vulnerable people, homeless, how to vote, make a difference, MP, parliamentary candidates, save welfare, vote, voting

We asked parliamentary candidates in East Sussex whether they would pledge to campaign to save Local Welfare Assistance (LWA) funding and ring-fence it to protect the services it funds.

LWA is a safety net that enables some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged households to get through a crisis, obtain and set up a basic home including beds and bedding, emergency food and rent deposits.

At HFS we see the direct results of this support because we source and deliver brand new beds, bedding, cookers and fridges for people in Hastings and Rother who apply to the County Council for this help (click to read more about the scheme).

Separate, ring-fenced LWA funding was abolished in April 2015. The Government said that Councils would allocate funds for the services from their core grant; they suggested amounts but refused to ring-fence funds. Council core grants are reducing each year (local Councils say their budgets have been reduced 40% since 2010) so the lack of separate, ring-fenced funding puts LWA services at risk.

If you haven’t yet decided how to vote on 8th June, please bear in mind that the candidates’ intentions on issues like this can make a real difference to local households in need.

These candidates have pledged support:

Peter Chowney – Labour – Hastings & Rye

Colin Stocks – Green Party – Wealden

Nicholas Wilson – Independent (Vote Ethical) – Hastings & Rye

Angie Smith – Labour – Wealden

Caroline Lucas – Green Party – Brighton Pavilion

We’ve not yet heard from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or UKIP.