The St Mungo Community Housing Association, working as St Mungo's, is a charity registered in England to help homeless people.
Soup run
St. Mungo's Community began as a splinter group from The Simon Community which was started by a former probation officer Anton Wallich-Clifford and was unique among organisations for its success in alcoholic recoveries. This was essentially due to its controversial approach of allowing drinking actually on the premises. The lease for the East End shelter in Sclater street was ending and it was at a time when shortage of money drove the Simon Community into constant reorganisation. However, due to the services of Conservative MP James Allason, the chairman of the East End house managed to break through the almost impenetrable bureaucracy that surrounded the London County Council. Unaware that it was for a new charity they offered the short lease on a house in Home Road, Wandsworth, which was due to be demolished in two years time.
Harry Stone had a choice of two people for the job of warden. One was the warden of the closing Simon wet house and the other was a young ambitious worker at the Simon headquarters. The warden at the time was a reformed alcoholic and it was therefore felt he might not be able to withstand the considerable pressure he would likely be under. Jim Horne was chosen. Horne agreed to become the new Chairman while Harry Stone became secretary, treasurer and fund raiser.
Horne ridiculed the suggestion the enterprise should be called The Home Road Hostel and pressed for the name St. Mungo's. Being Scottish, he believed the powers of Glasgow Cathedral might be persuaded to make an ample donation if it was named after their patron saint. It proved to be a false hope. But otherwise Horne's enthusiasm and ability drove St. Mungo to increasing success. Among his early helpers was Graham Parr who in turn broke away to start up the original Vauxhall Broadway hostel. Due to the enlightened support of Wandsworth Council, even though they had never been officially informed of the occupation in Home Road, the Mayor opened the second house, which was also in Home Road.
St. Mungos gained the interest of the Department of Health and Social Services and Jim Horne persuaded the Head of the Department and the Minister Sir Keith Joseph to spend an evening on the soup run. The department subsequently offered major financial support so that the Community could become an experimental embryo for further possible development. The organisation was later completely reorganised. Qualified accountants, medical practitioners and psychiatrists were appointed as additional trustees. Out of this it soon became clear that whenever either of the original Trustees held opposing views or questioned Horne's dealings, the new Trustees backed Horne since he had the responsibility for the daily running.
In the late 1960s, it faltered. Its management started cutting back and so, in May 1969, its soup run was to be ended. The soup run was a nightly distribution of soup in six locations in London's West End where homeless rough sleepers or "dossers" gathered. This was provided by Wandsworth Council for a nominal rent and in 1970, the council provided three more houses nearby. The fourth house was used as an office by the developing organisation.
Hostels
A large hostel, accommodating up to 200 people, was started in a disused Marmite factory in Vauxhall in 1973. This large building had previously been notorious for the strong smell of the production process. In the same year, another large hostel was opened on a short-life basis in Suffolk Street, off the Strand, formerly the Charing Cross Hospital. The hospital had been relocated to Fulham and Jim Horne negotiated cheap terms for occupation of the old building with the Greater London Council pending its conversion to a police station.
There was a schism in the organisation in 1979. Jim Horne left and the organisation split into three. The Charing Cross hostel was managed by a new charity — St Mungo's Community Housing Association until closed due to its insanitary condition and replaced by a refurbished building in Endell Street, Covent Garden. The Marmite hostel became Bondway Shelter, registered as a separate housing association. The St Mungo's Community Trust then focussed upon the soup run and partnered with other organisations, such as the Shepherd's Bush Housing Association, to open a hostel in Fulham. In 1980, the soup run was passed on to the Bondway organisation and the original trust now operates as Hestia Housing and Support. It was renamed to avoid confusion with the St Mungo's Community Housing Association, which operates as "St Mungo's".