the emmaus difference
The key difference between Emmaus and most other accommodation for homeless people is that Emmaus provides work along with a home. This gives the opportunity to gain self-respect and self-worth, through meaningful employment and the chance to help others. Another important difference is that once an Emmaus community is up and running, it eventually becomes self-supporting through the income from its trading activities. This makes it a highly effective use of charitable funds.
homelessness
Homelessness can happen to any of us at any time. It is frightening and depressing, and can affect people from all walks of life. A decent home means access to simple things such as water, cooking facilities, heat and other basics many of us take for granted. Being without a home immediately strips people of their dignity, their pride, their self-confidence and their self-respect. There are a variety of reasons why people become homeless. They include job loss, relationship and family breakdowns, domestic violence, physical or mental health problems, debt, alcohol and drugs problems - often a combination of these. Other vulnerable people are those who have spent years in care or other institutions, particularly the armed forces and prison. Many homeless people are initially unable to cope and they need substantial support.
a home, a place of work and a future
Emmaus Communities provide hope, care, and a future. They offer a way out of the humiliation and loneliness of homelessness and give people a chance to get back on their feet. They help people move from homelessness and dependency on state benefits to taking responsibility for their own lives as well as helping others less fortunate than themselves.
a family home
All Companions, as residents are called, have their own comfortable room and their own space, whilst living and working within the Community. They live in a supportive family environment where everyone is accepted for who they are now, not judged on what they might have been. Emmaus Communities are open to all and no restrictions are placed on the length of stay. Some stay only a few weeks or months to get over a particular time of crisis. Others might stay longer until they are ready to live independently.
The images above were taken at a visit to the nearby Emmaus Gloucester community.
a thriving business
Each Community has its own income generating business, which, after an initial investment phase, enables the Community gradually to become self-sufficient. Thereafter, surplus income is donated to other local agencies supporting homeless people, used to help set up other Emmaus Communities in this country and donated to overseas projects. This 'Solidarity' is an important aspect of the Emmaus ethos, with Companions heavily involved in the process of selecting recipients of their trading surplus. A structured work environment provides opportunities for training and employment. Everyone living in an Emmaus Community must sign off all Government Benefits except Housing Benefit and work full-time within the Community. The work is split into two categories, running the business and maintaining life in the Community. Emmaus has been identified by the UK Government as a model for social enterprise.
The business is based predominantly around the recycling of furniture, electrical goods and other household items. Companions undertake a variety of jobs including working on the shop floor, in the warehouse, in the electrical and carpentry workshops and collecting and delivering items. Similarly, everyone shares the work required to maintain the Community using a rota approach for cooking, kitchen portering and cleaning communal areas. After work recreation is an important part of life in the Community. No drugs or alcohol are allowed on the premises. Every week, each Companion receives an allowance of £35 and an extra £5 a week is put into a leaving fund that they receive when they leave.
homelessness in oxford
Emmaus Oxford opened - in March 2009 - an Emmaus community in the heart of Oxford, and is now raising further funds to help run it during its early years. We welcome any help you can give us: please see the donations page! Or click here to find out more what Emmaus Oxford is doing.
Homelessness is one of the single most important issues facing Oxford today. This is due to a wide range of physical, social and political factors – many of which are not within the immediate control of the City Council or indeed any one agency. The financial and social costs are huge. For example, the City Council spends some £5 million each year on direct services for homeless people. At least 174 single homeless accommodation rooms are needed above existing supply in the County
The City has a good track record in trying to cope with these problems through the provision of night shelters, short-term hostels and the outstanding work of the Luther Street Medical Centre. However, there is no provision like Emmaus that provides support, a home and work for homeless people. The first Emmaus Oxford Community will go a significant way towards addressing the needs of single homeless people in this city.
At the same time, our Emmaus Community is expected to bring wide economic and social benefits. A recent evaluation has concluded that each Community can produce savings of some £600,000 per year in terms of reduced costs to the Health Service, the criminal justice system and other social services amongst others, together with assistance given to other charities. This equates to about £26,000 per Companion per annum.
emmaus UK
The first Emmaus Community in this country was created in Cambridge in 1992. Today, there are eighteen other established Communities up and running in Bolton, Brighton, Bristol, Carlton (Beds), Colchester, Coventry, Dover, Hampshire, Glasgow, Gloucester, Greenwich, Leeds, Mossley (Manchester), Oxford, Preston, Sheffield, South Lambeth and St Albans.Over the last decade it has become increasingly evident that there is a growing need to establish many more Communities across the UK. There are always more people seeking to join Emmaus Communities than there are places available. There are some dozen active Emmaus groups around the country which are well on the way to opening a Community and, in addition, several incipient groups at various stages of development. To find out more about other Emmaus projects and the movement in general, visit the Emmaus UK website at www.emmaus.org.uk (if you haven't already!)
emmaus international
Emmaus International is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that acts as a means of liaison and mutual aid between its members worldwide. The Emmaus movement began in France in 1949 when the Abbé Pierre, a French priest and resistance worker, welcomed individuals suffering from poverty and exclusion into his house, which was named Emmaus - after his favourite New Testament story of two people who regained lost hope through sharing conversation and a meal with the risen Christ. It is through living, working and sharing in a supportive Emmaus community that people who have lost hope in life can find their way forward. So, initially small and formed on Christian principles, Emmaus has become a thriving and secular movement with over 400 individual Emmaus Communities in 44 countries.