Having a place to call “Home” is the foundation of recovery. A safe, secure, and stable home is a fundamental need and basic human right. Home is so much more than a roof over your head, it is where you should feel at ease in body and mind. Home is a place to recharge and recuperate. Home is a place you should feel safe. Home gives you stability and the opportunity to grow.

Today is World Homelessness Day, recognising the significance of housing to personal wellbeing, a day to champion vital support, and recognise and listen to the invaluable voices of those with lived experience in responding to the current challenges.

It is also World Mental Health Day, a significant factor in creating homelessness risk for those that suffer from poor mental health and adverse experiences, and in turn a symptom and outcome of homelessness due to the heavy burden of stress, anxiety and the erosion of dignity.

Volunteering has been around for centuries and is recognised as invaluable both to individuals and the community by the Scottish Government.

Recently The Guardian reported a record number of households in the UK are facing food poverty, with the Independent Food Aid Network stating 90% of food banks are seeing an increase in demand.

The cost-of-living crisis, energy hikes, inflation, food price increases of 16.7% in the past 12 months, and now a dwindling food supply is throwing people into trouble.

As we say goodbye to another year, which seems to have flown by, I wanted to take some time to reflect on 2022.

The last few years have been extremely challenging for us, but the beginning of 2022 seemed to offer a glimmer of hope as we started to ease out further from the Covid-19 pandemic. However, for some of the most vulnerable people in our community the pandemic is still having an effect, with new variants emerging and the residual impact on our economy and job markets.