How an electric van is helping to make Changemakers Matthew’s House a home from home

In Swansea, a team of determined locals is changing lives. Matthew’s House, one of Big Issue’s 2025 Changemakers, is helping vulnerable people get through the day while planning for tomorrow, providing everything from food to washing machines to a helping hand into the welfare system for anyone who walks across its threshold.

A recent boost to their capabilities has come in the form of an electric ë-Berlingo Van, provided through Big Issue’s Driving Change For Good partnership with Citroën. The new van has enabled the team to expand their reach across Swansea. “It’s going to be massively impactful,” project leader Thom Lynch explains. “At the moment, volunteers are using their cars. It’s inefficient and restricts what we can receive or donate. So it will be huge for our volunteers to be able to turn two or three journeys into one. It’s the kind of thing that makes a massive difference to how well we can help people.”

Matthew’s House launched in early 2017 when The Hill Church bought St Matthew’s, a grade two listed building which sat empty after a charity using it had been forced to close. After months of volunteer work, it opened the doors of Matt’s Cafe, a table-service restaurant repurposing surplus food from supermarkets and businesses to feed people experiencing homelessness or financial hardship.

Since then, Lynch – who left a role at Port Talbot Steelworks to manage Matthew’s House in its infancy – and a growing team, have established another six mini-projects which make up the network of help the organisation offers to locals in need, no questions asked.

That includes Matt’s Showers, giving those living on the streets of Swansea a chance to wash, as well as a laundry service. The organisation produces and distributes ‘dignity packs’, handing out hygiene products to people forced to choose between essentials like food and their basic comfort.

Matt’s Buddies are a team of specially trained volunteers who support guests through their journeys to stability, providing everything from help navigating housing support to a friendly listening ear whenever it’s needed.

Matthew’s House focuses on nurturing a community that every type of person can find a home in, and that means creating opportunities for fun and connection as well as meeting people’s basic, immediate needs. That’s why every Monday night, locals from all walks of life meet for choir practice to make some noise and express themselves.

“We want you to be at home in our city,” Lynch says, speaking days ahead of hosting more than 130 people for dinner and festivities on Christmas Day. “All the things we offer are the things you should find at home – a bit of food to share, showers to get yourself clean and other facilities, a chance to enjoy yourself with other people and hopefully find true friendship too. And whoever walks through our doors will be welcomed the same as everyone else.”

Matthew’s House is visited, on average, by 128 people per day, and is staffed by just two full-time employees. The rest of the tireless work is done by a force of around 100 volunteers, several of whom started off as guests themselves. Phil, who leads the Sunday shift in the kitchen, is one of them. The 54-year-old was released from prison seven years ago and struggled to find somewhere to live. Word of mouth on the streets led him to Matthew’s House, where he was a regular guest for three years – by which point he felt ready to give back.

“If it wasn’t for Matthew’s House, I would have probably found myself back in prison,” Phil says.

Matthew, 41, also experienced homelessness. While rough sleeping for around a year, he heard about the organisation from others. “People told me how good they are, so I started coming along and having delicious food,” Matthew says. “I made new friends and saw how when new people came along, they felt welcome. Now I’ve been volunteering for years. It’s like a second home to me.”

Demand for the organisation’s support has increased by nearly 30% in 18 months, with up to 68% of guests experiencing homelessness. Around 270 people are living on the streets in Swansea, according to council figures. This growing need has made their work increasingly challenging, particularly when it comes to collecting and distributing essential items across the city.

The van will be particularly transformative for guests moving from homelessness into housing. “When someone’s been sleeping rough or living in temporary accommodation, when they do get a place, one of the joys we have is being among the first people they come and tell,” Lynch says. “Most people who get set up in housing from homelessness will get grants for things like white goods, but that doesn’t make it a home. Having access to a van will allow us to coordinate this work – to quickly nip out, grab a load of things that don’t fit into cars, and then drop it off. It’s in the hope that people stay in homes, not just rooms.”

“You watch people come through the door here, and you can see how needed [Matthew’s House is],” says Michael, a 78-year-old retired travel agent who has been volunteering for four years. “It makes you grateful for the things you might take for granted, like a roof over your head. In life, I think, you can only take out what you put in.”

For more information on Matthew’s House head to matthewshouse.org.uk

For more information on Citroën ë-Berlingo van, visit:  https://www.citroen.co.uk/models/new-e-berlingo-van.html