Cyrenians

About our organisation

At Cyrenians we tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness. We understand that there are many routes into homelessness, and that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to supporting people towards more positive and stable futures. That’s why all our work is values-led and relationships-based. We meet people where they are, and support them towards where they want to be. Our organisation was created in 1968 by a group of students who developed a residential community model where volunteers lived alongside those who had been street homeless; reflecting the newly formed Cyrenians movement which had grown out of the Simon Communities approach. We have come a long way from those humble beginnings, with over 50 projects all working towards our vision of an inclusive society in which we all have the opportunity to live valued and fulfilling lives.

The change we want to see

Our work at Cyrenians is embedded within our 4 values which steers everything we do: compassion, respect, integrity and innovation. We are committed to reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness and its root causes. We place lived experience at the heart of the decisions we take and seek to use our position to influence policy and practice in the sector, whilst helping to bring about system-change. Our latest piece of work, supported by Lankelly Chase, in conjunction with the Centre for Homeless and Inclusion Health at Edinburgh University, explored what it meant to be living through a global pandemic and how people within the homeless sector understand the experience. We took the opportunity to capture some of the learning around current practice; innovative flexible ways of working, adapted provision and new partnerships and use this knowledge to help shape what future policy and practice looks like around homeless provision.