Kayleigh lived with Cambridge Cyrenians twice. The first time she abandoned her accommodation. The second time she flourished, finding work and successfully applying to the City Council’s Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP). Now she is looking to move into long-term independent accommodation.

We spoke to Kayleigh and Kat, Kayleigh’s Project Worker while she lived with Cambridge Cyrenians, to find out how supported accommodation helped her on her journey out of homelessness.

Kayleigh has been in her RSAP flat since January this year. The flat itself isn’t far from where she grew up. “I’m from Cambridge. I’ve been brought up in Arbury and Barnwell. My Grandad lives just around the corner,” she says.

Until January, she had been living in one of Cambridge Cyrenians’ move-on houses. Her Project Worker, Kat, comments on the quick turnaround when Kayleigh was accepted for RSAP, “We did the application in December. The interview was in January and then you got it.”

“It all just happened so quickly,” Kayleigh says.

The move-on house wasn’t Kayleigh’s first stay in supported accommodation. In 2018, after becoming homeless, rough sleeping, and some time in a hostel, she was referred to Cambridge Cyrenians. When asked about her life then she says: “It was chaotic. Hectic. I never knew if I was coming or going. Just taking each day as it comes.”

After less than six months she had abandoned the tenancy. “Through drink and drugs, I left and moved into a partner’s house,” she says.

However, the abandonment wasn’t the end of Kayleigh’s journey with Cambridge Cyrenians.

Two years ago the Cambridge Cyrenians team received another referral for Kayleigh and found her a space in a move-on house. This time she felt ready to make a change.

“It was like two completely different Kayleighs. I came off the drugs and the drink with help from CGL (Change Grow Live’s Drug & Alcohol Service). I felt like they could see the change in me.

“And working, that’s helped me a lot as well for stability.”

Kat agrees, saying, “I’ve worked with Kayleigh twice. In two different periods in her life. Truthfully, if Kayleigh was still in the chaotic place she was at first she wouldn’t have been ready [for RSAP].

“The second time around, she was working, looking after her grandad, taking care of her house, paying rent, and letting us know when she needed help.”

Kayleigh says she found it helped to live in a smaller shared house, further from the city centre. “A lot of my drug use was in town. I still had to be the person who decided to stay away but being in a different environment, away from town, helped me a lot.”

The Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme in Cambridge

The Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP) was launched in 2020 by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC; formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government). Cambridge City Council purchased 14 properties to use as training flats for people with a history of rough sleeping. The properties were funded with a combination of council investment and a grant from DLUHC.

Tenancies usually have a maximum duration of two years and tenants are supported to sustain their tenancies and to find long-term housing. In 2022, the government announced £500 million in funding for local authorities in England for the Rough Sleeping Initiative. The same year, Cambridge City Council received funding and began offering RSAP properties in the city.

Kayleigh says, “I do feel it is a good way to start. It gives you an opportunity to save up and to know what you’re going into.”

Kat agrees, “I think it’s brilliant because I have had residents leave supported accommodation and go into their own flats and they’ve struggled not having any support.

“For someone who is ready to move on from supported accommodation but can’t afford private rent, this is a great opportunity.”

“When you move out into your own place it’s not like you get left. They’ll still help you. Even though you’re in a flat, you’re not left on your own” Kayleigh adds.

Steps to independence

When asked how support from Cambridge Cyrenians helped her get to where she is today, Kayleigh says that a lot of it was down to her Project Workers.

“It was good to have someone there that you trust, someone who is there to support you. And it not being family who has to do that. If I needed them, they were there. I could just get on with what I needed to do.”

Things are looking up for Kayleigh. “Just to have my own place. To be able to work full time. I am looking forward to having a brighter future.”

Kayleigh says being able to have her nieces and nephews visit her flat has been a big part of her recovery. “I have a really close bond with one of my nieces. We’ve got that connection back now.”