Today I celebrate one year at 999 Club. It’s a cliché, but time has genuinely flown.
First and foremost, I want to thank all our Members – service users, staff, volunteers, donors, partner organisations and supporters – for warmly welcoming me into the role and into the sector.
Taking stock
Before I joined, 999 Club had undergone significant change and growth post-Covid: the closure of the night shelter, support from new funders, and the creation of new services and teams, including The Bridge, Move+, the Essential Services Team and the Reconnections Team. My message when I arrived was simple: let’s take a year to take stock and plan – I’m not here to shake things up for the sake of it. This has allowed us to bed in changes, build organisational stability, and meaningfully plan for the future.
Saying that, it’s not exactly been quiet! My first year at 999 Club has included:
- A significant refurbishment programme of flats owned by 999 Club.
- Working with Members, staff and an architect to develop initial designs for a much-needed redevelopment of our building.
- The recruitment and induction of four new trustees, bringing expertise in homelessness and supported housing, banking and investment and fundraising.
- Consultation with Members, staff, trustees, and volunteers to develop our 5-year strategy.
- The creation of new roles in our Gateway drop-in centre to meet increased demand.
- Welcoming new funders and donors to 999 Club.
- Introducing our first Champions, Bernadette Russell and Lianne Sanderson.
- Joining Homeless Link’s Established Leaders CEO programme, allowing me to connect with CEOs from across the sector nationally.
It’s amazing how much you can learn in a year, and yet I still feel like I’m only just getting started.
The current climate
The wider landscape continues to shift. The new Mental Health Act has tightened detention criteria, strengthening patient rights and aiming to reduce the disproportionate detention of Black people. As such, we expect to see more Members with acute mental health needs remaining in the community and needing our support to navigate their rights and care, making our trauma‑informed, psychologically safe approach even more essential.
And while the Social and Affordable Homes Programme finally brings new investment in social housing, London’s severe shortage of genuinely affordable homes means our Members won’t feel the impact for years. Indeed, the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness, while welcome, sits against the reality that rough sleeping in London has risen by 90% in the last decade.
These are long-term ambitions requiring political focus, courage and sustained investment. Meanwhile, every day our Members feel the strain of NHS pressures, the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis and a broken asylum system. I’ve seen this first hand this year- from Members sleeping rough whilst undergoing cancer treatment; to asylum seekers made homeless after the 28-day ‘move-on’ period from temporary asylum accommodation; to working people made homeless for the first time simply because they can’t afford their bills. These examples clearly illustrate why 999 Club’s work is more vital than ever.
Looking ahead
Despite all this, we look ahead with conviction as we prepare to launch our new 5-year strategy in May. Themes include:
- Opening a new building down the road from our HQ, giving us more space to run our services and new accommodation capacity.
- Improving our building to give a better experience and increase capacity.
- Examining tools and frameworks to better measure our impact.
- Consolidating a trauma-informed, psychologically-safe culture across the organisation.
- Further development of skills and employability-based workshops for Members.
- Producing ethical, Member-led communications and storytelling.
- Developing and embedding approaches to co-production and co-creation.
- Exploring the history of the building and charity.
- Strengthening partnerships and pathways.
- Creating more opportunities for the development and progression of staff and volunteers.
We will maintain and evolve our services to meet our Members’ needs, continuing to give them a warm welcome and work alongside them on their journey toward housing, stability and hope.
There have been many memorable moments this year: being interviewed by a Member at our Meet the CEO event, a raucous Easter egg hunt in the Gateway, and seeing the joy on a colleague’s face when they saw our new shower block for the first time!
999 Club is a special place with a long and rich history, and deep roots in our community. There is much to do, but I am honoured to lead us into our next phase.
Thank you all. Roll on year two.
Charly Richardson, CEO of the 999 Club.
If you want to support local people to leave homelessness behind for good, get involved with the 999 Club today.