Our vision is for a York where everybody has a home, where those who have been homeless before are rebuilding their lives, and where the city works together to beat the underlying causes of homelessness. We provide a loving space where lives can be restored. Everyone deserves a place they can call home, but society’s injustices can put unbearable financial and personal pressure on some people. Where that gets too much, and people lose the home they used to live, Restore relieves the pressure. We provide safe and stable homes, one-to-one mentoring, love, mental health support, training, social activities and the offer of Christian support and prayer. Through our work, we also show that by easing the pressure that leads to a range of personal crises, we can restore their dignity and self-worth, reconnect people with local community, and through this we can create a better society for all of us, freeing more people to achieve their full potential.
Since commencing this work in 2011 we have been blessed by God as piece by piece by piece He has built this charity. What started out as a shared vision has now become a reality, and we have provided accommodation and support to 150 people in York along the way. We are now managing nine properties across the city and employ several members of staff in a variety of roles. God has enabled us to become a significant presence within York’s homelessness prevention strategy and provision. More than that, we have had the privilege to see many lives transformed, strongholds brought down, addictions broken, relationships restored and broken hearts healed. May God’s Kingdom continue to come here as it is in Heaven.
Restore is an anti-poverty that works with people of any faith or none. We are grounded in Christianity, particularly in scriptural calls to engage in social action and to pursue justice. Restore’s founders were inspired in particular by Isaiah 58, a rallying call to us all to get out of our comfort zones, conversations and huddles and to instead take action to help those in need and to oppose injustice. We work with other statutory and charitable organisations in and around York, to provide homes for people who would otherwise be homeless, and to identify and address the underlying causes of homelessness. We love our tenants and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them as they rebuild their lives.
Our future plans are to continue being obedient to what God calls us to; bringing good news to the poor, freedom to the captive, release for the prisoners, sight for the blind. We want to be open to do that wherever His Spirit leads us. At the moment we would love to expand our service so that we can provide 50 bed spaces in York. We have appointed Duncan Craig as a new CEO to take forward our plans to help more people out of acute crisis to one of sustainable restoration.