Charity gets homeless on the phone. New service to put homeless people back in touch.

London, England. September 2005

London's leading homeless charity, St Mungo's, and Tech4all, a London-based charity that uses technology to alleviate poverty, launch a new service called VoiceMail4All that will give homeless people their own voicemail telephone number. Having a private telephone number at which people can leave messages 24 hours a day will allow homeless people to find jobs, stay in touch with family and friends, be contactable by resettlement workers or look for accommodation.

• Homeless people can register free of charge at St Mungo's projects or online via other homeless agencies.
• They are given a number with a London code (0208) and can then retrieve their messages from any telephone line. By having a landline number they are removed from the stigma of being homeless and unlike a mobile phone it cannot be lost, stolen or run out of battery.
• Users leave a personal outgoing message when they register and can then access messages they have received for free at St Mungo's homeless projects or at local rates from any telephone. To ensure that they only pay for the call if they have a message to collect, the service indicates that they have no messages by ringing more than two times, allowing the user to hang up before a charge is incurred.

Based on a next generation telecoms network from Evoxus, working in association with SmartNumbers, a pilot scheme has been in operation for some time at a sample of St Mungo's projects. Having received £30,000 in funding from Bridge House Trust, and £10,000 each from the London Development Agency, Full Employment UK and Credit-Suisse First Boston, St Mungo's and Tech4all are now launching the scheme across London.

The St Mungo's VoiceMail4All Co-ordinator, Laura Black, says "There are many barriers that prevent homeless people from getting jobs, but not having a secure, reliable and private phone number that potential employers can contact you on is a big one. VoiceMail4All makes sure that clients can overcome this barrier. We're all very excited about getting it up and running"

St Mungo's client, David Lightbody says: "I was applying for a job, and I was able to leave my own 0208 number on the application form - without that number, I would have had to have left the number for my keyworker or the phone in the hall of my semi-independent house. This way, employers don't need to know that I am homeless - I feel like I stand an equal chance with any other candidate now. It also gave me greater control to receive my messages personally in my job search. "

Tech4all's chair, Giles Keating, says: "VoiceMail4all has already made a real difference to the lives of people in the pilot project.  Jobs, accommodation, regaining contact to family - just one phone message can do it.  Now a much larger number of people can benefit"

"We are pleased that SmartNumbers can play an important role in supplying technology that can be put to such good use", says Geoffrey Paterson, CEO of SmartNumbers. "We are proud to be part of the team that are focused on helping those rebuild their lives."

Marcus Warren from Evoxus comments: "We are witnessing a new industrial revolution as technology changes the way that we communicate.  We're delighted that our technology is able to help those that most need support." 

It is anticipated that other homeless agencies will soon be offering the VoiceMail4All scheme to their clients and residents as well.

About St Mungo's

St Mungo's is a homelessness agency and housing association which began in 1969 and now offers support and care for over 1400 vulnerable men and women in over 70 housing projects, leading London's services for people who are homeless and vulnerable. St Mungo's offers pioneering services to men and women who have complex and overlapping needs that often exclude them from mainstream services. Our work prepares people with mental health, substance use, alcohol and housing problems to move on. Last year, our Work and Learning programme, Europe's largest directly delivered service for homeless people, helped more than 1,700 vulnerable men and women prepare for maintaining their tenancy, holding down a job, get back in touch with their family, learn to read and write and so much more.