A HOMELESS charity in Salisbury is celebrating the most successful year in its history with 86 per cent of clients going on to independent living.

Salisbury Trust for the Homeless (STFH) says it has also beaten its annual targets for re-letting rooms quickly and avoiding rent arrears.

The record-breaking figures for 2018-2019 were revealed in a report by the leader of its professional support team to the STFH board.

The chairman of the trust Maureen Pardy said: “We are absolutely delighted with our results over the past year.

“The vast majority of clients who have left us have gone on to live in their own homes, giving us our highest success rate ever. This is due to the skill and dedication of our three professional support workers and the commitment of our much larger team of volunteers. We are achieving our aim of getting homeless people back to independent living.”

The report by project leader Louise Davis showed that in the 12 months up to April this year, 86 per cent of STFH’s clients made planned moves when they left the charity’s eight houses in Salisbury, which between them have a total of 29 rooms.

This, the trust says, was not only far ahead of the target figure of 70 per cent but surpassed the then record figure of 83 per cent achieved in STFH’s 30th anniversary year in 2016-2017.

At the same time the average re-let time for rooms was just nine days during the year, well ahead of the target of 15 days.

STFH was founded in 1987, originally providing rough sleepers with a bed for the night, it now provides accommodation and support for single people over the age of eighteen who have become homeless.

The trust owns four of its houses in Salisbury and rents the other four. It gets no financial support from either central or local government and so is heavily dependent on the generosity of the people of Salisbury and south Wiltshire.

  • On July 5, STFH is holding its Summer Garden Party at Salisbury Museum in the Cathedral Close. Tickets: 01722 504017