1. Introduction

For nearly 40 years Cambridge Cyrenians have been providing accommodation and support to many of the city's homeless. Present services provide a range of accommodation for 62 homeless men and women, including two short-stay houses, a Mental Health Outreach Team, which offers a citywide service for those who are homeless and mentally ill, and specialist support for older homeless people.

At a meeting in June 2007 Staff and Council Members of Cambridge Cyrenians began the process of reviewing the organisation's priorities for the future. This meeting highlighted a wide range of areas and issues to be addressed if Cambridge Cyrenians are to meet the needs of local homeless men and women over the next five years and beyond.

This document is the result of the review process that followed the June meeting. The views of service users, the known future plans of the other local homeless agencies, plus local and national policy and strategy have been taken into account.

This Development Plan will be subject to a formal review in 2009-10 and will be monitored meanwhile by the Development Sub-group.

2. Summary of key points

Many of our major goals from the previous plan have been achieved. These include:

But in the short and medium term we will need to respond to external changes such as:

At the same time Cambridge Cyrenians is setting out its own priorities. These include:

Cambridge Cyrenians will also commit itself during the duration of this new Development Plan to: