“We must remain angry” – in conversation with YMCA Together’s Jon Metcalfe – Pt. 1
As we head into winter, we caught up with our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Jon Metcalfe, to discuss the housing crisis, the challenges our organisation faces, and how we can work together to create positive change.
In part two, Jon talks about men’s mental health ahead of International Men’s Day 2025.
What is YMCA Together’s role in the community?
We gear everything we do towards supporting people in the best way we can and being there for them when they need us. We play a huge role in identifying unmet needs and putting resources, services, and systems in place to meet those needs.
A big part of our role is to see what’s missing and what else needs to be out there and work towards getting the funding to design and deliver those services. Unfortunately, people’s needs are growing. Homelessness is at levels that we’ve not seen before. In Liverpool, people are struggling with mental health. Domestic abuse is prevalent across our communities, people still need recovery services. Our work isn’t done. There’s always more to do, and our job is to try and build something that meets everyone’s needs.
What challenges do the organisation face?
There are a number of challenges. We’re in the midst of a housing crisis. We simply haven’t been building enough homes, so people don’t have adequate housing. They don’t have places to live. But homelessness is more complex than just a housing issue; it’s a symptom of lots of other factors.
We look at the trauma that people have experienced through early childhood and their life development. We look at how people’s experiences have impacted them, how that affects their mental health, their self-medicating, often with drugs and alcohol, and how people are trapped into behaviour patterns. We try to unpick some of that and support people through their problems.
What causes these challenges?
These challenges are exploding because there’s not been enough money put in. It’s as simple as that. We’ve underestimated the scale of the problem nationally, and we need to readdress that. We need to invest in people and put things in place to build up people’s recovery and social capital so they’ve got the tools to live a life free from the supported accommodation or temporary accommodation we provide. There needs to be money for people to build up their self-efficacy. But there also needs to be homes for people.
There’s a lot that still needs to be done.
What’s your primary concern?
The most pressing concern is the number of people sleeping rough in Liverpool as we head into winter. Our service is working hard to provide them with the support they need. One person sleeping rough is too many. It’s difficult for us to transition people out of our services into their own accommodation because the accommodation is not available in the numbers we need.
We’re worried that we’ll struggle to support people who need the most support through winter. That’s a big challenge. We want to see more money put into health and social care, homelessness, domestic abuse, and mental health, but we don’t know if that money is going to come or not. We’re hopeful that the money will come after 14 years of underinvestment. We’re at a point where we need to over-invest to get us back on an even keel. So there are concerns that the level of funding required to meet the needs of the most vulnerable and those who suffer the biggest health inequalities won’t be met in the way it needs to be met.
What are YMCA Together’s goals?
We don’t want to be working with people who are experiencing homelessness in Liverpool for another 175 years. We want homelessness to end. We want people to have better management of their mental health. That starts with conversations and people managing themselves to build their social and community capital.
How can people support YMCA Together?
Talk to people, be a friend, and help them when they feel down. Everyone can do those things to support our work.
We also need funding. We welcome all donations to help make a difference in people’s lives. We need to keep mental health, homelessness, and other challenges on the political agenda. So, let’s keep talking about it. Let’s not accept people sleeping rough on our streets. Let’s not accept people not getting the health care they need when they need it. Let’s keep pressure on politicians to make sure these issues are a priority. Let’s demand that the most vulnerable people in society get the support they need.
Are you confident we can make positive societal changes?
We can bring an end to issues like homelessness and poor mental health if there’s genuine public support. Politicians will bend and flex to give the public what we need for our democracy. The investment from government departments will happen if we keep the pressure on. The biggest thing people can do is not accept the position we’re in.
We must remain angry every time we see people homeless. We must remain angry when we see people struggling with their mental health and not getting the help they need. We have to keep pushing that. The moment we start accepting these things, it’ll get worse and worse. We must keep the pressure on and maintain the energy needed to support the most vulnerable in society.
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