Sarah Lamptey’s ShowerBox: an innovative way to help the homeless

UCL Students Action Against Homelessness Society interview Sarah Lamptey, founder of an innovative service providing showers for London’s rough-sleepers.

who is sarah lamptey?

Sarah Lamptey is a freelance TV and radio presenter, model, writer, and founder of ShowerBox. Sarah grew up in Kingston, London and studied English Literature at Royal Holloway. From early on Sarah was aware of the extent of homelessness on the streets and decided that she wanted to help make change. After university, she started volunteering for Simon Community, a small organisation helping rough sleepers, which involved assisting the tea runs, soup kitchens, and being a helping hand at the winter shelter. Sarah then got involved with Crisis, a larger homelessness organisation. She quickly realised there were certain small challenges such as hygiene where she could help. After replying to a tweet from Sadiq Khan asking what could be done to help homelessness in London, The Huffington Post asked Sarah to write an opinion piece on the potential impact of public showers for the homeless. From this, ShowerBox was born.

what is showerbox?

ShowerBox is a free and secure box containing showers and changing rooms, which circulates around London to provide showers for rough-sleepers. Every other Sunday, the trailer goes to St Giles and the Fields along with other homeless services. To facilitate this project, Sarah created a JustGiving fund, to which various individuals and associations have contributed, including Somers Town Community Association. Sarah has since been named JustGiving Changemaker of the Year 2019.

ShowerBox is rooted in the belief that all human beings, regardless of their social situation, deserve their basic sanitary needs to be satisfied. Writing in The Huffington Post, Sarah said: “if toilets are a primary need, showers are a close secondary one.” This project is also partly a response to issues faced by rough-sleepers in day centres. Not all centres are able to offer showers, such as those which operate from churches. Those with showers are often overwhelmed, and their overuse can make them unsafe. The shower areas are also typically gender-mixed, which makes it hard for men, women, and non-binary identifiers to get the privacy they need.

Challenges: criticism, legislation, and gender

This project has never been done before in London, so when asked about the future, Sarah responds that she is focusing on taking it all day by day. She has an experimental approach, working out what works and what doesn't as ShowerBox evolves. Whilst she is reluctant to register as a UK charity, due to the many bureaucratic requirements, she recognises that this might be necessary in the near future. Many fundraising opportunities are exclusively available to charities, so registering could be financially advantageous. It would also allow her to continue working on the project full-time, as she would receive a sustainable income. But with small-scale projects like ShowerBox, time constraints make charity registration difficult to access.

Sarah has experienced considerable resistance during her time running ShowerBox, with some suggesting the project lacks genuine value. Sadiq Khan went as far as saying he was unwilling to offer support because his aim was to get people off the streets. This attitude overlooks the importance of daily self-care for one's self-esteem and good physical health, which may be vital for making a longer-term plan. Asking the homeless what would make a genuine difference and spending time observing the struggles individuals on the street face day-to-day has been a recurring theme in Sarah’s work.

Gender also presents a challenge. During her experience of helping the homeless, Sarah often finds herself one of the only females in a given environment, as the homeless are a male-dominated demographic. She wonders whether being a woman leads her to be a more likely confidante in this line of work, and she admits feeling the pressure at times as a result.

Opportunities: personal and organisational connections

As ShowerBox has garnered more and more recognition, there have been increasing opportunities to raise awareness. This has facilitated further discussion about the homelessness crisis, not just in London but across the country. Individuals from Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, and Bristol have all reached out to understand ShowerBox’s model and potentially replicate it within their respective cities.

Large private organisations have also made contact. For instance, Unilever have shown interest in taking on Sarah’s project for their own use. With a company of this size offering their resources, there is potential to make a huge impact on homelessness. However, Sarah is careful to jump straight into an agreement like this as she wants to be sure of their intentions. Either way, there are plenty of avenues for the future of ShowerBox, an exciting prospect for Sarah and her showers.

Sarah’s tips for students wanting to kickstart their own fundraising projects

Homelessness is a complex issue that can often seem too big to know where to begin. Don’t be put off by this.
There are no boundaries to our ability to help. We all have our own unique skills. This may be something obvious, like the ability to speak multiple languages, or something more subtle but equally as important, like being a good listener.
Focus on things that are often overlooked in everyday life, but may in fact be missing from those who are homeless. By focusing on improving little things for those in need, we have the power to make a more sustained, realistic, yet significant impact.
No help is too little - if everyone helped in the smallest way possible, as a collective we would have a huge impact.
Sarah is recruiting! If you’re interested in joining Sarah as a volunteer or simply interested in her work, contact her via the ShowerBox website, Instagram, or her personal Instagram. She is looking specifically for van drivers, but is also keen to work with other homelessness organisations.