North East Homeless provide support to those who are vulnerable and homeless in the North East of England.

They had an existing website on another platform, however, it was difficult to update and had them “locked in”, making it difficult to add new features or hire a Developer to make changes.

We planned to create a new website, on WordPress – and not just for the sake of a new site, but with a goal in mind that it would function as a Directory for their end users.

Having the ability to freely access information, contact numbers, service providers etc, in key areas of the North East.

Being mobile-first was a priority, as this could likely be used in a setting such as a library, or community centre on a tablet. Some homeless keep a mobile phone so that they still have a means of contacting service providers.

The directory listings are organised into categories, such as Housing, Legal aid, Mental Health, etc. In addition, the ability to search by area (location name, postcode), a keyword, whether a provider is open, or Map view.

We’ve setup some core pages, with a view these will grow in time, allowing NEH to add information about funders or Frequently Asked Questions.

Our idea to “Buy us a coffee” was to enable visitors to donate a small amount – the cost of their morning/lunch coffee – to the charity, because, every little helps.