About us - Only A Pavement Away

A PATHWAY TO A CAREER AND A BRIGHTER FUTURE.

ONLY A PAVEMENT AWAY is a charity founded by representatives from the hospitality industry who believe that everyone deserves the chance to find and forge a career.

Our aim is to act as an effective conduit between forward-thinking hospitality employers and charities working with people facing homelessness, prison leavers and veterans who struggling to get into work, overcome hurdles by finding jobs within the hospitality, pub and restaurant industry. Our industry is an exciting one, built on people.

Only A Pavement Away will help those who are facing homelessness and are therefore struggling to get into work by:

Offering career opportunities within the hospitality industry
Facilitating training and development programmes, creating capability for work
Offering financial support to overcome the barriers to employment including support with rent and other costs which may hinder stability

Outside of the moral benefits, the project is underpinned by a strong commercial and financial benefit to the hospitality, pub & restaurant industry whilst reducing the ever-increasing strain on government funding required for those who find themselves in such extreme and vulnerable circumstances.

The funds raised by ONLY A PAVEMENT AWAY will be used to support those returning to work, supplement the resources required by the charities/associations to manage the project and promote the jobs available in the hospitality sector.

What is Homelessness? .

Homelessness.

Under the Housing Act 1996, 'homelessness' does not solely mean the lack of a home. A person should be treated as homeless if they have no housing that it is reasonable or safe for them to continue to occupy.

The housing charity Shelter explains that you are homeless if you are:

Staying with friends or family
Staying in a hostel, night shelter or B&B
Squatting (because you have no legal right to stay)
At risk of violence or abuse in your home
Living in poor conditions that affect your health
Living apart from your family because you don’t have a place to live together

Rough sleeping.

Rough sleepers are defined by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government(for the purposes of rough sleeping counts and estimates) as follows:

"People sleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/ in or standing next to their bedding) or actually bedded down in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments), people in buildings or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or 'bashes'). The definition does not include people in hostels or shelters, people in campsites or other sites used for recreational purposes or organised protest, squatters or travellers."