Our work at Barnabas House highlighted the need to provide temporary accommodation for single men. In 1995 we were fortunate to acquire Barnards Cross House, the hostel for nurses at the Infirmary. This is a huge building and was somewhat daunting to all of us when we stepped out in faith to purchase it.

It was far too big for our needs as a Hostel, or so we thought, but we had other ideas on how it could be utilized to benefit the wider Community.

Having acquired it we opened 35 more rooms for the homeless. Whilst it was opened to house homeless men, due to it's size and structure we have been able to extend it to house women and couples and for a time it also had a small family unit. There is clearly an enormous need for housing in this area. We only provide temporary shelter, but all our residents are looking for somewhere permanent that they can afford. Most not only suffer the indignity of homelessness but also they are unemployed. This led us to look for ways to improve both their quality of life and their chances of finding work.

We have submitted a Planning Application to demolish this building and to rebuild a state of the art hostel for our time.

Earlier in 1996 we were able to open the remainder of Barnards Cross House and use it to establish a Christian Community of Adults with Learning Disabilities. This is a permanent home for 10 individuals. It is more a question of what they can give us rather than what we can give them. They are a tremendous group of people. Professional teams of carers staff the home around the clock. However, the
members of the Community do much for themselves under the supervision of the Caring Team of staff and volunteers. You are always assured of a very warm welcome at this listed 17th/18th century property in the heart of the city. It is warm and bright and exhibits the differing personal tastes of the Community. It is certainly their home.
The Archbishop of Canterbury formerly opened this house on the 12th April 1997.

We are now looking to re locate this Community as part of the redevelopment of Damascus House and this will be converted into Move On Flats for the Hostel.

A home for long-term homeless and unemployed women was opened in the year 2000 in Salisbury.  This provided for move on accommodation from our hostels encouraging the residents to become still more independent and enabling them to move into permanent accommodation within the year.

For a short time it became a direct access house for homeless with dogs but its future is being reviewed due to re-assesment for fire regulations and Health & Safety.

With this in mind, we started applying for funding to establish a Day Centre. Our first aim is to LISTEN to the needs of our clients and then seek challenging ways of addressing these needs. We already have been successful in partnering with the C.A.B. and Salisbury College. C.A.B. have provided advice on hand and the College ran a series of courses to develop the skills of our clients, both resident and non-resident.
We also aim to run many activities away from our base and, in time, to develop some work experience programmes.

The Lottery Charities Board awarded us one third of a million pounds for this work in 1996 over a three year period, which got us off to an excellent start. As well as funding salaries and equipment, it has facilitated the purchase of a 16 seater Mini Bus.

At the end of 2000 we received £230,000 from an ESF bid to continue developing this service.
At our site at Barford St. Martin we have a well-equipped woodworking facility. We have also developed new activities, which include pottery, and weaving.

On some adjoining land we have erected a poly tunnel and developed a small horticultural project to help move clients on into independence.

Again in Bristol in March 2003 we opened The Well, a 5-bed unit for women seeking to leave behind a life of drugs and work in the sex industry. Working with the same group of Christians above we have been able to make these two projects happen. We were also grateful to a benefactor who purchased the two properties for us to safeguard the revenue funding we had been promised.
We have now succesfully purchased these properties.

March 2003 was a very busy time for us. We also opened Andrew House, a 10-bed second stage rehab unit in Clevedon, Somerset. Here we work closely with a very committed group of Christians predominantly from the local Baptist church.

This service has now been extended by 'Together' Floating Support service.

In July 2003 we merged with KASH that operates a Drop In Centre, a hostel known as Ruth House and two Supported Houses for young people Faith House and Luke House. These are all based in Devizes. The latter have now been replaced by The Orchards again in Devizes.

In 2003 we opened a further supported housing project for three adults with learning difficulties. Whilst not a community in the same sense as Emmaus House it offers round the clock care and support helping the young men to greater independence. We have now expanded this service with a units in London Road and Gorringe Road, Salisbury.

Again in 2003 we agreed to take on the management of a drop in centre in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and other related projects run by Action on Homelessness leading to a full merger in 2004.

We now have three Drop In Centres operating within Wiltshire catering for more than 100 people a day.