The Greenhouse Walk-in Centre, located in Hackney, provides free health care services and housing and welfare advice for homeless people.

It helps people like Maciej*, a Polish man who came to the UK in search of work but rapidly found himself homeless.  Outreach workers found him on Stamford Hill early in the morning lying drunk on a grass verge.

Maciej's story

"At the time I was living in a squat and had nothing to do with my day other than drink. The outreach worker told me about the Greenhouse. I hadn't seen a doctor or a dentist for a while but I was able to register with the GP at the Greenhouse so I could have my teeth looked at and my feet that had been bothering me.

I look a lot neater and smarter now than I did when I first came to the Greenhouse.  I'm not drinking any longer and I'm able to look for work properly.  I recently applied for a painter and decorating job with Thames Reach but wasn't short listed. But the Greenhouse is still helping me to find another job and they're going to pay for my Criminal Record Bureau check so I can register with an employment agency.

With their support I've turned my life around. I never wanted to fall into a life of drinking – I wanted to work in the UK and find a place to live. I'm starting to take real steps towards that goal.  There are still setbacks, like recently when my tools were stolen from the squat, but thanks to Greenhouse I cope with this sort of thing better now."

_{*not his real name, photo posed by model.}

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Set up by Thames Reach, the Greenhouse Walk-in Centre is a welcoming, informal place where men and women who are sleeping rough, have a drug or alcohol problem, poor mental health, or who are simply struggling to keep a roof over their head can receive help or advice. The Greenhouse Walk-in Centre receives funding from London Councils