1982

Crawley Open House begins its journey when doors first opened on a project in Spencers Road known as the Crawley Community Resources Centre.

 

1990

We delivered our first overnight accommodation in the winter of 1990 providing emergency cold weather beds to those that were sleeping rough.

 

1994

On Christmas Eve, we launch a permanent hostel instead of a temporary cold weather shelter. Portakabins once used to house construction workers building the channel tunnel were converted to provide twelve single and four double rooms plus an office, a shower, a toilet and a laundry block.

 

1996

The hostel and resource centre merge to form Crawley Open House.

 

2001

We move into new premises in Three Bridges. These were redesigned and refurbished to our specification enabling us to increase our bed spaces to twenty-four. We are also able to open a small medical centre.

 

2002

The opening hours of our main day centre are increased to seven days a week. Our team grows to meet the needs of for our clients and we established a permanent mental health support service.

 

2004

We mark the tenth anniversary of our hostel accommodation. In that time we had supported over 3,000 hostel residents, 85,000 clients in our day-centre and resettled over 1,600 clients into appropriate accommodation.

 

2006

Southwell Lodge opens – a ten bedded hostel offering a high level of support to young people who would otherwise be homeless. The hostel provides boundaries, support and opportunities for education and employment.

 

2009

We open move-on accommodation in the community for five residents that are almost ready for independent living.

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2010

We start work on building a first floor on part of Riverside House to improve the facilities we can offer to clients.

 

2011

The first floor is completed and in use. The increased office space allows us to provide more support with housing options, financial wellbeing, physical and mental health issues, and substance misuse issues.

 

2012

We completely refurbish our kitchen at Riverside House. It has produced over half a million meals for the hungry and disadvantaged since 2001.

 

Management of Southwell Lodge passes to Sussex Central YMCA to build on the solid foundations and proven success of our initial work.

 

We introduce an Outreach Team whose role is to go out into the community to work with those struggling to engage and to get off of the streets.

 

2013

A second move-on house opens providing independent living opportunities for more residents with a local connection.

 

Crawley Open House becomes a partner agency in the Local Assistance Network (LAN) providing emergency support to those affected by the removal of crisis loans.

 

2014

A third move-on house is opened bringing our number of beds in the community up to twelve.

 

2016

Our outreach services are further developed by adding staff to work with individuals that are chaotic with highly complex needs and to protect people who are insecurely housed.

 

2018

Our West Sussex County Council funding comes under threat. The Local Assistance Network (LAN) is withdrawn from us and reduced by 80% overall.

 

We launch our ‘1 in 1000’ campaign.

 

2019

A donation from Furni-Aid who sadly have to close their doors, enables work to begin on a new extension to enable us to have more office space and open two new bedrooms taking our capacity up to twenty-six.

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2020

New Laing Apartments open at Crawley Open House, providing extra accommodation 

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2022

New Resource Centre Opens 

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