Who’s at your table?

London is our home and it’s home to nearly 10 million Londoners from diverse cultures and backgrounds. We love this city and want the very best for every community and all people groups. But at the heart of London there are many who don’t know what it feels like to experience a proper home. Or those who have had to escape their homes to find a safe space among our communities.

The picture of homelessness and displacement in London is a bleak one - and as the temperatures plummet this festive season, the scale of need in the city only increases. 183,000 Londoners live in temporary accommodation, with half of these being children. 55% of the households in England living in temporary accommodation are in London. On top of this, the number of rough sleepers in the city has risen by 10% in the last year.

At the same time, refugees and migrants can find themselves among those struggling to find safe and secure homes in our city. Having faced perilous journeys fleeing dangers of all kinds in their own homes, they may not yet be free from the risks of being displaced from their countries. Despite their best efforts, they face an uncertain future – only made worse by the stigma and opposition stoked up by far right narratives. There are precious few warm seasons greetings for these most disadvantaged groups, facing homelessness or refugee status.

This year’s The Standard winter campaign, entitled ‘Who’s at your table?’, is highlighting the stories of many Londoners at risk of having no fixed home. The campaign, in partnership with Comic Relief, aims to support organisations in London and across the country, which help those facing homelessness, suffering food insecurity, or those forced to flee their homes in search of safety.

People like Aram, who experienced death threats in his native Iran and experienced homelessness in London. Leila escaped forced marriage at 14 years and female genital mutilation in Yemen. Feliks left Eastern Europe as an unaccompanied teenager and was the only one of his family who made it out of danger. As the campaign explains, their stories have become ones of hope and opportunity, but what of all those people still facing the very real danger of being without a home? This festive season, can we think about those less fortunate, who are missing loved ones from theirs?

At The London Community Foundation we are committed to seeing London become a fair and more equitable city. We love London and we care deeply when Londoners are struggling to provide basic essentials for themselves and their families. We’re constantly looking for ways to lift up those most affected by the challenges faced in the city. Therefore, we’re delighted to play our part in The Standard’s ‘Who’s at your table?’ winter campaign, managing the contribution from the Evening Standard’s Dispossessed Fund.

Supporting London’s community organisations working in this space is at the heart of our mission. This year we have supported the Wimbledon Foundation Homelessness Fund, providing grants to day centres and other projects tackling homelessness in Merton and Wandsworth. We’re also pleased to provide funding from our Youth Futures Fund to help ensure young care leavers find and remain in homes once they leave the care system. These are just two examples of where we have been able to help address the needs here - our annual report shows that we allocated 38 grants to homelessness and refugee projects in 2024-25 alone.

Funding like this can’t fix every root cause of homelessness in London. It can’t guarantee a positive outcome for those looking for a new life free from danger and death. But it can support those at risk from losing their homes and those already without a roof over their heads. With your help we can provide even more vital funding for the most disadvantaged and at risk communities in our city.