Cornwall’s Housing Crisis: Kev’s Story
Cornwall’s Housing Crisis means an estimated 43 people are sleeping rough each night and 22,000 people are registered on Cornwall Homechoice. Groups across Cornwall are seeing this need and responding by providing support, temporary accommodation, and affordable housing.
Harbour Housing is just one of these organisations. In 2024 alone, they accepted 557 people into their service, and had 250 successful move-ons from their supported accommodation. Volunteer, Kev, was one of these people, moving into independent living two years ago.
“I’m just grateful for the help I’ve had. The staff are great, you can always talk to one of them about something. I learnt a lot from the staff and people there. I’ll never stop working there. They’re helpful and honest.”
Originally from Manchester, Kev has lived in Cornwall for several years. He has a history of substance use, and was violently assaulted while staying at a shelter before his initial referral. He started volunteering for the charity while he was living there. Now two years into living independently, he still volunteers regularly.
Kev really enjoys cooking. When he was staying at Harbour Housing, he would often volunteer in the communal kitchen. There, he would cook meals for himself, residents and staff members. Since leaving, he has returned to cook for the residents at Harbour’s Cosgarne Hall property once or twice a week.
“I just got in the kitchen and did what I’ve been doing all my life, cooking for people. It’s good fun.”
As well as making meals for staff, residents and volunteers in the kitchen, he has helped them learn to cook. For Kev, this isn’t just about teaching a life skill, it’s a space to make people laugh, engage with them, and listen to anything they want to share.
Volunteering with Harbour Housing, and experiencing homelessness himself, Kev has seen first-hand the impact of Cornwall’s housing crisis. He’s seen people struggling on zero-hour contracts, people who have had a job one day and become homeless the next. He even mentioned seeing how people have been exploited for a place to live. Paraphrasing Harbour’s Operations Manager, Malcom, he said:
“Everyone deserves somewhere to sleep, a door to feel secure, and to live a life without prejudice.”
We want to support people like Kev, and organisations like Harbour Housing, to continue working with those who have been hit by the housing crisis. To do this, we’ve launched Cornwall’s Housing Crisis FundA sum of money made available for grant making, often with specific criteria/conditions.. This fund will provide organisations like Harbour Housing with unrestricted, long-term funding so that they can focus their time on continuing to support their community.
