Streets Kitchen’s Jon Glackin and Elodie Berland

A GRASSROOTS homelessness charity says it is facing closure due to rising costs.

Streets Kitchen, which runs out of the Solidarity Hub in Seven Sisters Road, says the hub is at risk of having to close its doors unless it gets a major cash injection.

“The reality of the situation is that by Christmas I don’t know how we’ll survive,” said Streets Kitchen founder Jon Glackin.

He added: “It’s a very real possibility that we’re at risk of closing. A lot of groups are closing down. Every week I’m hearing about another group that’s had to give up, and when that happens that puts more pressure on the groups left.”

Streets Kitchen provides food, clothing, sleeping bags, and tents to people experiencing home­lessness, and Mr Glackin says the cost of all of these things has gone up and up over the past year.

“All of these costs have skyrocketed, and everyone is feeling it,” he said. “Every week we feed around 500 people, and at least 20 people a week use our showers in the hub, so we’re running hot water which is expensive.

“The Solidarity Hub is proving very expensive with the electricity bill, and we host 14 other groups in that space, and we don’t charge them because they can’t afford it either,” said Mr Glackin.

The organisation is hoping to fundraise £30,000 which will cover its running costs out of the hub, which opened in 2022, for a full year.

“We’re not expensive. The only people who benefit from any money we raise are those experiencing homelessness.

“We’re 100 per cent volunteer-run so we don’t have overheads like wages. But, we’re coming into winter and we need winter sleeping bags, winter tents, and they’re more expensive,” said Mr Glackin.

He added: “We always fight above our weight, that’s for sure, and we’re always skint around this time of year. But, demand is definitely going up.

“We’re seeing more and more people across London and in Islington coming to us. With the cost of living crisis, with everything rising up in price, we’re literally running out of money, our backs are against the wall.”

The group needs people to donate either their money or their time to keep its doors open and continue supporting those in need.

“I hate asking for money because I don’t think we should be in a position where we have to. But, it could be you next, the way things are going, we need to get ahead of the game.

“We’re very much based in the community and we need the community to support us – whether that’s giving their time, or giving a couple of pounds if they can afford it. We understand people are skint.”