The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Jimmy’s, a homelessness charity on East Road, last Thursday (23/06).

The charity runs a number of shelters for people experiencing homelessness in Cambridge, and provides support with addiction, mental health, and employment, as well as offering accommodation.

Last year, the charity offered 25,000 hours of support to over 400 people.

The Duke and Duchess were shown around one of the charity’s “modular homes”. Jimmy’s describes these as “small self-contained independent accommodation”, which enables homeless people to be more self-sufficient.

The charity is working with the University to monitor the impact of this method of tackling homelessness.

The question of homelessness is an increasingly pressing one in Cambridge.

According to the latest government data, 56% more households in the city were assessed as threatened with homelessness in the following 56 days than in the same period a year earlier, though the number of households assessed as actually homeless decreased by 14%.

The data also indicates that the rate of homelessness in Cambridge is 50% higher than the national average.

As these figures are for the last quarter of 2021, they predate the current cost of living crisis.

Given that Cambridge is one of the most unequal cities in the country, there are fears that this crisis will hit the city harder than most.

If these fears prove true, Jimmy’s could bear much of the impact.