The priests of St Anne's, along with many local volunteers, were instrumental in this important moment in the Second City’s history and today, the Digbeth parish remains at the centre of provision for rough sleepers, via Tabor House, which is based in the Birmingham Irish Association building.

With the support of St Anne’s parish church, Tabor House opened in 2017 and in doing so became Birmingham’s only permanent night shelter, a long way from the original single room in Moat Row where a small number of volunteers had offered help and support to Irish immigrants.

Since becoming Mayor, homelessness and rough sleeping have been one of my priorities, which is why I set up a taskforce soon after talking office and have championed Housing First, the pioneering scheme which shares many of the approaches seen at Tabor House.



In this column I want to tell you about the successes Housing First has seen in helping society’s least fortunate people.

First seen in Finland, Housing First works with councils, housing associations and support groups to help rough sleepers break the cycle of decline which has landed them on the streets.

The programme is overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Homelessness Taskforce and headed up by Birmingham City Council alongside local authorities in Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton, in partnership with housing providers and homelessness charities across the region.

Housing First is a Government-funded initiative of £9.6m over three years, which aims to help people with a long history of rough sleeping by providing a home and the wrap-around support individuals need to re-build their lives and stay in their accommodation. 



In the West Midlands, individuals are also given a small budget to make their new homes their own thanks to pilot funding and money donated through the Change into Action scheme.

I’m proud to say that latest figures show that thanks to the scheme 326 individuals have been supported into a place they can now call home.

This is an important milestone for Housing First and proof that the scheme is having an impact. There is no doubt that this achievement has contributed to us reducing the number of rough sleepers across the region.

The need to help homeless people has been perhaps even greater during the coronavirus pandemic, and Tabor House, driven by the Irish Community, has once again led the way.

In 2020 the entire project moved temporarily to a hotel so it could continue to support guests while following Government guidelines on social distancing.

Then, to enable it to re-open, Tabor House was redesigned to follow new guidelines and ensure guests could continue to stay safe. Capacity was reduced to house eight people in separate bedrooms, and it changed its approach from being a night shelter where guests would leave during the day, to being permanently open for guests. 

It now offers 24/7 accommodation for guests. The project has also secured a lease on a nearby building containing three bedrooms, so nobody was made homeless as a consequence of the changes.

The wonderful thing about Tabor House is not only does it give accommodation for a number of days or weeks, but during that time the residents will have support to rebuild their lives so they can go into permanent accommodation, an approach mirrored by the support offered by Housing First.

I think if the original parish priests and volunteers who set up that single room in Moat Row, Digbeth all those years ago could see the work being done today at Tabor House and by Housing First across our region they would not only approve, they would urge us to push on and try to help even more people.



That’s something I intend to do. Knowing the deep generosity of Birmingham’s Irish community, I know they will too.

Welcome to another Birmingham Irish Association news update

We publish news and project updates keeping you up to date with details regarding our services and events, as well as other local developments and other news that will be of interest to our clients as well as other visitors.