People sleeping rough in Camden and Westminster to get hospitality training and jobs in leading hotels
People who were sleeping rough on the streets of Camden and Westminster are set to enter a hospitality training school to give them the skills to work in some of the UK’s leading hotel chains.
Camden Council and Westminster City Council work closely with Saira Hospitality, St Giles Hotel in Bloomsbury and Single Homeless Project to provide temporary accommodation and support for 92 people who would otherwise be sleeping rough.
Twenty candidates from this group will take part in a four-week pop-up school inside St Giles Hotel where they will learn a range of hospitality skills, including receiving training in leadership and communication.
During the training, residents will split their time between the classroom inside St Giles Hotel and other hotels in London where they will complete hands-on work experience. These hotels include Pan Pacific, Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, Marriott, Accor, Z Hotels, Travelodge and St Giles Hotel itself.
The scheme aims to secure employment contracts for each resident by the end of April 2024 and to help each person to access private rental accommodation.
Saira Hospitality’s global partnership with eCornell will also provide residents with credentials from Cornell University. Saira Hospitality’s curriculum also provides learners with various industry-standard level 2 qualifications that will help each resident’s progression in the hospitality industry.
Camden and Westminster see some of the highest levels of rough sleeping in the UK. Their partnership with Saira Hospitality, St Giles Hotel and Single Homeless Project is one of many ways their Routes off the Street service works with partners and agencies to help people without a home get the support they need to rebuild their lives away from the street.
This is a fantastic initiative which will help people find their feet once again. Retraining or looking for a job can be a scary process for anyone, but if you are sleeping rough with no address, it can seem almost impossible. We work closely with St Giles Hotels who provide accommodation for people rough sleeping and through them and our partners, we help people who are homeless get the foundations in place to return to independent lives.
Westminster sees the highest amount of rough sleeping anywhere in the country, and we are committed to helping every single person to get the accommodation and support they need to move on with their lives. That’s not something we can do alone, which is why partnerships like this are so important. Our work with St Giles Hotels allows us to provide safe, secure accommodation while equipping people with skills, opportunities and tailored support.
The entire end-to-end partnership process is an example of the great work that can be done when businesses, charities and nonprofits unite. However, it’s the generosity of St Giles Hotels which is really providing the platform for this partnership. Without a roof over their heads, it would be impossible for any student to take part in this training. We’re treating this year as a pilot programme, but very much see an opportunity to make this an annual activation in the future.
At St Giles Hotels, we are committed not just to giving back through our Corporate Social Responsibility, but to devote our time and passion to improve the communities and ecosystems which sustain and support our hotels. We’re so excited to partner with Single Homeless Project and Saira Hospitality, to play our part in helping people back into meaningful work and making a positive impact in finding the solution to solving rough sleeping and homelessness.
Homelessness doesn’t define you. It is an experience, not a forever and it can be ended with the right solutions. Our expert teams work closely with the Londoners we support off the street and get them job-ready. Gaining valuable qualifications and a job is absolutely crucial to become independent and leave homelessness behind for good. Partnerships like this with St Giles Hotels and Saira are the perfect example of how charities and business can work together to open doors and brighten futures.
Upon completion of the academy, graduates will be offered guaranteed job interviews with the same partners offering work experience. Providing shelter and food is something St Giles Hotel has committed to every year since the start of the Covid pandemic, with the support and skills of the Single Homeless Project and local councils.
However, this year the hotel is going one step further, it will sponsor 100% of the cost of the training programme delivered by Saira Hospitality. The academy is financed by Hotels with Heart, its in-house philanthropic foundation, which lists as its goals a commitment to help tackle homelessness and housing precarity, and to support 100 people back into fair and meaningful work. Hotels with Heart’s work builds on St Giles Hotel’s own commitment to regenerative hospitality, a model which seeks to give back to local communities and ecosystems more than it takes out.