Making recovery achievable and sustainable for those facing homelessness and addiction

Why we have made this our mission

Life is difficult for people experiencing homelessness and addiction, and without a place to call home stability is hard to achieve. For people using drugs or alcohol, accessing and sustaining accommodation while managing all of life’s complexities becomes increasingly challenging. Lack of accommodation and addiction are inextricably linked and without addressing both neither will be resolved.

People experiencing homelessness and addiction who identify residential treatment as a primary goal will often be met with barriers, conditions and delays. If this describes your situation and you aspire to a life in recovery then The People’s Recovery Project is your community.

When people are given the opportunity to access residential detox and rehab the results can be transformative for the individual concerned.

The People’s Recovery Project is inspired by real journeys made by individuals experiencing homelessness and addiction through treatment and into recovery. These examples are currently the exception and through shared purpose our community is seeking to make recovery achievable and sustained for people in this situation.

We are building a community that has the knowledge and understanding to support people on transformative journeys and create an environment where great people can become greater people.

Recovery is Possible ….. tales from the community

  • Danny's story

    TPRP Community Member

    ‘I experienced 25 years of homelessness and addiction in London’s West End. Over the years I saw many people around me die due to drug related issues and poor health. One day I was standing in a phone box in Soho and decided that I’d had enough of the life I was living and decided that I wanted to go to residential treatment. This experience and opportunity was life changing and allowed me to heal, grow and reconnect with my family. And now I want to help others feel that recovery is possible’

    Full profile

  • Khosru's story

    TPRP Community Member

    ‘By my own admission I was a chaotic user of drugs and the way I used them was so dangerous I nearly lost my life. When I was in the thick of using my friends, family and support workers did not know if I would see the next day. I had a number of stays in residential treatment and I learned something from each experience and when I did finally get clean my family was there for me. Now I am married and have a beautiful young daughter and am so happy. I have realised that my knowledge is not something for me to keep to myself and now I want to support others to access treatment. I feel at home in The People’s Recovery Project community’

    Full profile

  • Mariusz's story

    TPRP Community Member

    ‘I had a lot of difficult experiences and traumatic events in my life that led me to using drugs to cope. I ended up living on the streets of London for 8 years. With nowhere to live and no support available to me due to my nationality I had no options. I continued to use drugs chaotically. The pandemic changed things for me as I was able to access accommodation and start to change things in my life. I started to reduce my drug use and managed to get a job which I love. I wanted to go to residential treatment but the drug service kept saying that I needed to maintain my methadone in the community and that there was no evidence that treatment would work for me. After 2 years I was finally given the opportunity to go to treatment. It has transformed my life and now my involvement with the community means I can try to help others when they need it’

    Full profile

  • Denise's story

    TPRP Community Member

    ‘I am an award-winning writer and film-maker, whose writing career began back in 2017 when I was newly in recovery and living in a homeless hostel. As a way to cope in an ever-changing and often challenging environment (and also as a way to understand myself and to try and make peace with my demons) I began to write.

    I am a member of The People’s Recovery Project recovery community and share my knowledge and story in the hope that others can be inspired, and take heart in knowing that recovery is possible’

    Full profile

  • Frank's story

    TPRP Community Member

    ‘I followed my mum to London from Belfast as a 14 year old. Things didn’t work out and pretty soon I had nowhere to live and ended up living in a hostel for people experiencing homelessness. Looking back I was young, alone and quite vulnerable. It wasn’t long before I was introduced to drugs and alcohol and I became reliant upon them both physically and psychologically.

    30 years later, after asking to go to detox and rehab for years, I was finally awarded the funding. Detox removed my physical dependancy and rehab helped me address the psychological side of things and rebuild. That was 10 years ago. I am still living without alcohol or drugs and I am now happily married and settled in London.

    I feel lucky to have survived and now secure in my own recovery I am driven to make it possible for others’

    Full Profile

  • Interested in talking to us about the Recovery Community? Come and chat to us at our regular hub!

    Contact us about the Recovery Community

Support Someone today!

You can support someone today who is currently experiencing homelessness and addiction, to get the life saving and future building residential treatment that they need.

Invest in someone directly and see them see them get the treatment they need right now when they need it.

Your support will mean they can go to quality detox and then to a rehab, both residential. Here, safe, away from the streets, surrounded by quality support and with access to therapies it is possible for individuals to heal, grow and develop skills to build a sustainable.

How will we achieve our aims?

Achievable Recovery

We utilise carefully selected, high quality residential detox and rehab centres. Our peer led recovery community supports you throughout your treatment and recovery journey. 

Our community is motivated by a shared purpose of making recovery opportunities more accessible for people. Together we will deliver:

  • Early intervention peer recovery groups

  • Specialist curation and coordination of pathways into residential treatment

  • Supportive relationships that endure throughout an individual’s journey

Sustainable Recovery

Our approach recognises that recovery is not a linear journey and is unique to the individual. Our aftercare community is available to people following residential treatment for as long as they need it.

We are a community that values wellbeing and seeks to create an environment for people to build connection, purpose and belonging. We do this by:

  • Supporting sustained recovery through mutual aid

  • Involvement in our community activities and campaigns

  • Working with academic partners to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach

We hear so often from people who are experiencing homelessness and addiction that they would like the opportunity to go to residential treatment, also known as detox and rehab, to address the root causes of their addiction. However without having th
The People’s Recovery Project is supporting people to build connection, purpose and belonging as they leave the streets behind for good. It takes a long time to get over the harms and trauma associated with long term street homelessness and a
For people experiencing homelessness and addiction making money to fund drug use becomes a constant struggle. Obtaining funds to buy drugs, to use drugs, to stave off sickness is a round the clock ordeal. It means people’s ability to prioriti
Back in Worthing with @mariuszpiwinski @khosru.miah.7121 hope you are having good travels. Worthing missed you this time. #thepeoplesrecoveryproject
Today @thepeoplesrecoveryproject are presenting at a conference in @lovewestsussex organised by @alcoholchangeuk with members of our community talking about the key foundations to achieving and sustaining recovery. We are particularly looking forwar
New year new content #thepeoplesrecoveryproject Our community members are integral to the design and delivery of our project. They have all experienced huge struggle and trauma in their lives as they move away from the dangers of the streets. Every
The People’s Recovery Project community preparation groups are back this year 2024 at Museum of Homelessness weekly on a Tuesday 3pm (we gather from 2:30pm) If you know people who are looking to explore treatment and recovery opportunities and
Festive greetings to all on a day which brings family and community together. The past year has been incredible as we have built a new organisation focused on building sustained recovery for people experiencing homelessness and addiction. And the m
Excellent article published in @huckmagazine about our friends and allies @our_moh museum activism featuring quotes from @thepeoplesrecoveryproject trustee and @lifeatkings research fellow Jess Harris and our community member Mariusz. We continue ou
Read Mariusz’s incredible story of resilience and strength and support him as he seeks to help others who are in similar situations to the one he found himself in. Link to story in bio #thepeoplesrecoveryproject
We attended the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drugs, Alcohol and Justice today at Portcullis House. We heard excellent presentations from @nationalauditoffice_uk and @wearewithyoucharity reviewing the first 2 years of the government Drugs Strateg
Our co-founder @nathan_rosier visited his local MP helenhayes_ to give an overview of @thepeoplesrecoveryproject It was productive to spend time with Helen recently to talk about how we can work together to move services beyond crisis management an

Why focus on the intersection of homelessness and addiction?

  • In 2022/23, nearly half of deaths amongst people experiencing homelessness were related to drugs and alcohol.

    Over 1,300 people died whilst experiencing homelessness last year.

    2/3rds of people experiencing street homelessness have a drug or alcohol need.

    Over 10,000 people were verified as sleeping rough on the streets London last year, a 21% increase on previous year

  • Problematic drug use can be a cause of street homelessness, it can also be caused by it.

    Without solutions that seek to see individuals needs holistically and resolve concurrent intersecting needs, it can be hard to resolve any of the seperate issues effectively.

    People using drugs should have access to support that empowers them make informed choices, that can lead to reduced harm and improved life chances. Some want to continue to use, but use more safely, others feel the only safe way forward is to stop using.

    For some, residential detox and rehab is seen as the only solution to their homelessness and addiction. They felt they have tried everything else perhaps and it hasn’t worked. There are currently too few places and too many barriers making this route inaccessible.

  • Costs: An individual experiencing homelessness and addiction to street drugs and alcohol is estimated to cost the state between £50,000 and £250000 a year.

    Benefits: People making sustained exits from support services, provide year on year savings, often moving to becoming net contributors.

    Unblocking accommodation pathways