WHC timeline
Our Journey: From Tragedy to Transformation
2006 – 2008: A Community Awakened
The charity was born from a heartbreak that the community refused to ignore. Following the tragic death of Josie, a local woman sleeping rough, Dr Sheena Dykes and Rev Paul Willis of All Saints High Wycombe rallied the community.
The First Winter: In January 2008, the Wycombe Winter Night Shelter opened with 200 volunteers and seven local churches, including Trinity United Reformed and Wesley Methodist.
Immediate Impact: Our first guest, Mark, found a permanent home within weeks. By the end of the first season, 29 of 36 guests had successfully left the streets behind.
The First "Sleepout": A fundraiser in the All Saints churchyard sparked what would become our signature annual event, the Big Sleepout.
2009 – 2012: More Than a Shelter
Knowing homelessness was a year-round crisis, we evolved. We officially became Wycombe Homeless Connection, shifting from a seasonal project to a permanent mission.
A Growing Presence: We launched year-round drop-ins and appointed our first support workers to provide ongoing assistance.
Holistic Care: We introduced English and Polish classes to bridge community gaps and hosted art workshops to nourish our guests' wellbeing.
Scaling Up: To meet growing local need, we built a professional office team and launched our first website to connect with the wider Buckinghamshire community.
2013 – 2017: Advocacy and Excellence
This era was defined by professional growth and navigating a tougher landscape of benefit caps and social housing shortages.
The Support Centre: Our permanent home on Castle Street was opened by our Patron, Countess Howe. This allowed us to launch a vital tenancy support service to help people stay in their homes once found.
The "MBE" for Volunteers: In 2015, we were honored with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest accolade for volunteer groups in the UK.
A Voice for the Frontline: As rough sleeping rose 132% nationally, our team became advocates on the national stage, with senior staff appearing on Channel 4 News to highlight the human cost of the housing crisis.
2018 – 2025: Innovating Through Crisis
We moved beyond the town centre, expanding into Chesham and integrating healthcare into our core services.
Health and Law: We introduced an NHS Care Navigator to help guests access medical care and partnered with the Hillingdon Law Centre to provide legal housing advice in what was a "legal aid desert."
Navigating the Unprecedented: The COVID-19 Response: Under our first CEO, James Boultbee, we faced our greatest challenge. We moved guests into hotels and B&Bs weeks before the national "Everyone In" mandate, transforming our shelter into a rapid humanitarian response that saved lives. We worked around the clock with local partners, we ensured every person sleeping rough was placed in safe emergency accommodation during the pandemic, a monumental effort that saved lives.
2021: Scaling the Frontline: We hit an "ominous milestone," looking after over 50 people in emergency housing at once, the highest in our history. We responded by launching a focus on homeless health, helping vulnerable guests navigate a strained NHS system.
2022: Tackling the "Legal Desert": We ramped up our No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) project, helping guests whose immigration status left them trapped in homelessness. We also helped residents apply for a record £60,000 in personal grants to clear rental debts and prevent evictions.
2023: A Growing Need: As the cost-of-living crisis deepened, we served 642 people in a single year. Our "Plug-In" volunteer team expanded to provide immediate essentials like laundry, phone charging, and food parcels in partnership with One Can Trust.
2024: A humanitarian response: With street homelessness returning to its worst levels nationally, we made the bold decision to prepare for the re-opening of our physical winter night shelter to ensure no one is left out in the cold. We recruited and trained 250 new and returning volunteers to make the winter night shelter happen again.
2025: Award-Winning Impact: We were honored with the Outstanding Contribution to the Charity Sector award in Buckinghamshire, celebrating nearly 20 years of preventing homelessness. We also celebrated helping our 10,000th person since our journey began. And, of the 33 people we sheltered, only two had not been settled into a new home by the end of the winter night shelter, and the two stayed in our care and service.
Our Vision for the Future
We are working towards a future where homelessness in High Wycombe is rare, brief, and non-recurring. We are currently focusing on homelessness prevention, stopping the trauma of eviction before it happens and building our accessibility through trauma-informed service development.
"I didn’t just find a roof; I found a reason to believe in tomorrow again." Mark, our first guest.