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About us

In 2010, Hestia proudly celebrated it's 40th anniversary!

The charity was set up in 1970 in response to the proliferation of street homelessness in the late 1960s. Jim Horne, a man who had personal experience of homelessness, started a soup run to help people living rough around the old Covent Garden Market.

He founded the St Mungo Community Trust that year, and obtained the use of run-down houses at token rents, from the Greater London Council and local authorities, to provide shelter for men and women living on the streets. For nearly a decade the Trust pioneered work in this area, running the old Marmite factory in Vauxhall, the old Charing Cross hospital and other properties to provide as many as 700-800 people a night with accommodation. It was the dedication of the members of the Trust and of those who supported them which kept the work going in conditions which would seem almost impossible today.

The organisation later branched out into specialist support services, such as working with ex-offenders, and people with mental health needs. To avoid confusion with its sister organisation, St Mungo’s Housing Association, it changed its name to Hestia Housing and Support in June 1998.

To read our full 40 year History, please click here.