Back in June 2023 I had an idea. Having hosted and helped several homeless single mothers with no recourse to public funds I had wanted to do something to help more families than one at a time.
It was when I realised that families were being placed in hotels with no cooking facilities for months at a time, I realised I could set up my own bed and breakfast and make it available to the council to rent instead. I would make it welcoming, and feel like a home, unlike many I had heard about.
The day after my husband viewed a property that had several bathrooms which we thought would be perfect so that each family could have their own bathroom facilities. It took a few months to get the financing arranged but in November 2023 we bought our first property. A pilot to show others what is possible. We still had a building project to do to bring the house up to our high standards and learn everything we could about best practice. I would be lying if I didn’t say there were a few stressful moments along the way, but on 31st January 2024 we officially launched The Welcome Home Project. Friends, family, mums who we had hosted in the past, and people we had met along the way all came for afternoon tea and to celebrate the opening of the first Welcome Home house.
– Lise x
