Welfare Centre
Every morning NOAH is ready to offer a warm welcome to everybody who arrives looking for help and advice.
On any given day up to 100 people will arrive with a variety of needs. We can support people with a quality one to one appointment and provide space and reassurance to talk through problems and questions.
The Welfare Centre is open 365 days a year from 9.00am – 4.00pm weekdays and 10.00am – 2.00pm at weekends.
Each day a free hot meal is available for rough sleepers between 12.00pm – 2.00pm via either a takeaway or in the dining room. On Fridays a community meal in the dining room is available to every NOAH client from 12.00pm – 2.00pm.
The Centre provides a safe environment where people can come and discuss their problems and get advice about a range of issues ranging across housing, benefits, EUSS, health, legal support, training and employment. Everybody who comes to the Centre completes a full registration with staff so that we can get to know them better. This helps us understand the circumstances involved and from there we can give high-quality bespoke advice, and offer a personal support plan tailored to each individual’s needs.
Facilities include:
- Dining room serving quality hot food
- Showers and a laundry service
- Provision of clothing
- A GP or Nurse surgery twice a week
- Mobile Dentistry fortnightly
- Table Tennis Club
- Computer access
- English Language Classes
- Accommodation Search
- Links to specialist agencies e.g. addiction counselling
During 2021:
739 different people came to the Luton Welfare Centre for support.
527 new referrals were accepted of people needing our help.
We had over 23,140 distinct visits with an average of 63 people per day.
We helped 290 to move away from homeless into accommodation.
67 more people were helped to avoid eviction from their homes.
6,353 lunches were eaten, 228 laundry cycles, 556 nights in hotel beds provided, 381 items of clothing given away, 80 free mobile phones provided, 68 food parcels and 121 dentist appointments.
59 people were helped into employment, 173 people supported to engage with meaningful occupation/training/work and 56 people obtained EU settled status.
114 people were supported with benefits and 387 calls to the DWP
157 people were supported with addiction and 35 people were connected with their family.