Salvation Army rebrands its hostels as ‘lifehouses’

It is carrying out the major rebranding exercise in the hope of making the term more relevant to the people who live in its residences.

A total of 83 of its 97 schemes across the UK will be renamed next Wednesday.

Around 1,000 people in its centres were asked to vote on a few suggestions given to replace the word hostel - and were invited to come up with their own. Lifehouses came out the clear winner.

Maff Potts, the charity’s director of homelessness services, said: ‘We wanted to make sure the name is relevant to meet the needs of people in our centres. We are saying our centre is not a hostel because that’s about housing. The word hostel is synonymous with big warehouses full of people.’
He added: ‘Some will see it as a pointless rebranding exercise but there is a lot of substance behind it.’

The Salvation Army will introduce programmes in the rebranded hostels to help residents improve their self-esteem, mental health and employment prospects. The rebranding exercise has cost it somewhere in the region of £5,000.

The schemes include 900 posts which will be filled by long-term unemployed people, referred by the Jobcentre Plus, whose job will be to set up activities and community projects.

The charity will also set up a partnership with social enterprise Goals UK to provide self-esteem training for residents of the centres.

The overhaul of the hostels follows a study of 967 Salvation Army service users by Kent and Cardiff universities, which found 51 per cent spent most of their time alone, 26 per cent had no close friends and 32 per cent had attempted suicide.

Mr Potts said new services would help residents change their lives so that they could move on from hostels and avoid becoming homeless again.
‘Housing is part of the solution but it is not the [complete] solution,’ he added. ‘[Simply] put someone in a house and they will end up on the streets again.’

Mr Potts explained the lifehouses would help residents gain a sense of purpose and build relationships with a range of people. He said: ‘That’s not just with partners, but friends, families and the bloke down the job centre.’

Jason Austin, resident at Edward Alsop Court centre in Victoria, London, said: ‘I think it really does sum up the place because it gives residents life through life activities, life skills, resettlement and support.’