CHESS Homeless

Registered Charity Number: 1093901
Chelmsford, Essex

About Us

CHESS (Churches Homeless Emergency Support Scheme) seeks to relieve homelessness and related hardship and distress amongst single adults in Chelmsford and Essex, through the provision of support services and temporary accommodation that helps them move on in their lives.

We Shelter

Knowing that you have a safe place to return to after a long day at work, or visiting friends often goes for granted to someone who is housed. But to rough sleepers ‘where will I sleep?’ is a harsh reality that they have to face on a daily basis.

Knowing that your physiological needs are going to be met, without even thinking about it has a massive impact on how you meet society on a day to day basis.

Being able to offer a homeless person the very basic needs, is the first part of ‘CHESS Homeless’ mission being achieved.

Being able to offer shelter can have a long-lasting effect on someone. CHESS has a number of properties that offer shelter to those who have been homeless. The first stop is the Night Shelter (this property is staffed with support workers), from there it’s a move to the Annex, just down the road from the night shelter which is also monitored by CCTV. From the Annex its onto one of our 'move on' properties.

We Support

CHESS Homeless Support Services assess the individual's needs which helps them to address any obstacles that inhibit them from moving forward. We have a working relationship with the local council that provides housing payments, thus securing an address and the foundation to begin to work from. We have our own Counselling service and work with the local GPs. We also encourage our service users to access specialist providers for those specific needs, ie Open Road; GP and Health Services; Citizens Advice; Job Centre Plus; Debt Advice Services; Volunteering; and others. Each of our service users in the Night Shelter are allocated a Support Worker when accessing CHESS Homeless.

We Raise Awareness

We raise awareness of the issues of homelessness amongst the public, local government, educational institutions and businesses, through putting on events and providing speakers and resources for your event or meeting. You can book a speaker through our website.

We Fundraise

Homelessness is a community issue and to keep providing the services that we do to some of the most vulnerable people in Essex, we need money and volunteers.