Our mission is to fight the criminalisation of homelessness!

We are Streets Kitchen Legal

We stand in solidarity for human rights, with a mission to end homelessness

For over 10 years, Streets Kitchen has operated as a grassroots group supporting those experiencing homelessness. Acting in solidarity, we provide daily outreaches with food, essential supplies and information that benefits our streets. We also work to create a welcoming environment where people experiencing homelessness are welcomed and respected. Our kitchens run 7 days a week over 12 different locations. Our service area has expanded to now serving over 1500 people a week across London, that’s 72,800 covers a year. We evolved from being a limited company to becoming a CIC over one year ago.

We work in partnership with many others across the UK and beyond, standing in solidarity for human rights and with a mission to end homelessness. We are fully volunteer run - some of our volunteers are currently experiencing homelessness.

Our Work

Through our work we’ve uncovered a vital issue when it comes to vulnerable people experiencing homelessness . . . .  THE LAW

Helping demystify processes, providing education on rights as well as training, guidance and support, the clinic is devised to provide fairness and transparency on those who are already under immense strain.

Our legal clinic seeks to address common problems such as:

Many people are not reached by local authority services at the first stage, because of failures to build trust, outreach with police, under-resourcing and local authority blind spots. People often do not receive initial guidance on homelessness applications, benefit entitlements and do not know all of their rights.

Once people begin the process toward accessing their entitlements, a legal bureaucracy and local authority gatekeeping stands in the way of access to services and decent accommodation solutions. 

In the meantime they suffer criminalisation, are moved around by security and enforcement, and become more vulnerable to the dangers of being on the street.

WE AIM TO TACKLE GATEKEEPING AMONGST OFFICIAL BODIES THROUGH:

Casework & Legal Action:

• Offering support with homelessness applications and evidence collection
• Requiring a local authority to provide temporary accommodation while they make a decision
• Challenging homeless decisions e.g. challenging priority need, local connection, intentional homelessness
• Challenging the suitability of offered accommodation
• Escalations and complaints to the Local Authority Ombudsman for failures
• Taking homeless appeals to the County Court
• Taking Judicial Review cases to the High Court

EVERY CASE WE HAVE REPRESENTED TO-DATE, WE’VE WON!

Our legal work is focused on two core strategies:

• The access and design of statutory homelessness support
• The criminalisation of homelessness

Why We Need You This Christmas, and always

Every donation is an act of solidarity, not charity. You’re standing with people facing criminalisation, keeping our legal clinic alive, and ensuring no one has to face enforcement alone.

This Christmas, join us to:

• Protect human rights and resist criminalisation
• Provide one-on-one support to people who need it
• Share life-saving tools like the Bust Cards
• Build a network of empowered volunteers and allies

Together, we can make sure this holiday season isn’t one of fear and isolation, it’s one of solidarity and justice.

We're looking to secure funding up to £50,000

Your support will help fund the legal clinic for a year and ensure more people experiencing homelessness get the representation they deserve.

How your money will help:
£100 – Build a Taskforce
 Help us run trainings for 30+ volunteers and guests on Action Against the Police & Human Rights. Together, we build a network of people ready to take action and defend rights.

£140 – Half-Day Clinic Operation
 Keep the clinic running for a half day, including outreach, casework, organisation, and strategic litigation. Your donation powers the frontline of justice.

We are so grateful to the kind souls who support our work - thank you for your contribution towards the fight to end the criminalisation of homelessness.