Huggard is delighted to have been awarded a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery Awards for All to make much needed improvements to our Development Hub in Huggard’s Intervention Centre.  Open daily, the hub is a key space for supporting people who are homeless and sleeping rough in Cardiff. 

Originally a large, open-space office, we plan to spend the money creating a warm and welcoming area for clients.  One of the priorities is to install 20 extra lockers which anyone in our emergency accommodation can use to safely store their belongings.  

Every day, around 20 people come in to look for a change of clothes.  At the moment, the only available space is cramped and crowded, making it difficult for them to find something new to wear.  We believe it’s important for clients to be able to choose what they want and plan to make the area bigger, as well as more comfortable, for them when picking their new outfit.  

As more and more services can only be accessed online, we are also expanding our already busy computer suite.  We want to make sure there are enough PCs available for when clients need to use them to get health, benefit, housing and other support.  The computer suite is also used for IT training sessions and by people who’ve enrolled on education and training courses. 

Another key priority is to create a private area where clients can make phone calls.  We encourage them, where possible, to keep in touch, or regain contact, with loved ones.  So it’s important they have a space to talk without being disturbed or overheard.  

We also can’t leave out our dedicated teams of staff who do so much for clients.  This is why we want to create a designated kitchen area where they can spend their breaks and mealtimes.  

Richard Edwards, Chief Executive of Huggard, said: “We are very grateful to the National Lottery Awards for All for this grant.  The people we support have been through so much.  The trauma and situations they have experienced have deeply affected them and we need to provide the very best environment to help them move forward with their lives.  This grant means we now have the money to provide more comfort, more support and better facilities within our Development Hub.”