The Surrey Comet is backing the Love Kingston initiative that is supporting battered women, troubled teenagers, families without food and debtors in the pockets of loan sharks.

Love Kingston supports five charities – youth project Oxygen, Kingston Foodbank, women’s refuge Hestia, credit union Kingston Savers and Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness.

If you love Kingston you can give at love-kingston.org.uk.

Imagine being forced out of your home. Not just your home but also away from friends and family.

Imagine telling your children they will have to move schools because the family can no longer afford to live in Kingston.

That is the plight facing dozens of family in Kingston when the new Government housing benefit cap comes into force next year, according to Matt Hatton, director of Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH).

The former Tiffin School pupil is more cautious with his language than Boris Johnson who described the new rules as “Kosovo-style social cleansing”, but he is equally robust in his criticism.

He said: “Those were his words not mine but yes that is the reality. Families will no longer be able to afford to live in Kingston.

“Children will have to leave their schools, whole families, some of which have lived in Kingston for generations, will have their whole support network uprooted and be forced to start again, alone in an unfamiliar place, perhaps not even close to where they were living.”

Mr Hatton is not your traditional church volunteer. A former policeman with five years’ experience, he was also a teacher at St Mary’s School in Thames Ditton. He got involved with KCAH after helping out at the YMCA.

The charity, started in 1993 by churches in Kingston as an advice centre, has expanded to include an accommodation service, outreach programme and an annual winter night shelter.

He said: “We have grown a huge amount in 19 years. The great thing about what we do is that the church community gets to show love in action, faith in action.

“The volunteers that help out with the winter shelter from December to February come from within the church community. Their perception of homeless people has changed.”

Claimants can currently instruct the job centre to hand the cash straight to support services such as KCAH, which can act as landlord, but from October under the new rules they will get benefits monthly, something Mr Hatton believes could have a devastating effect on the support charity.

He said: “The Government said this would help teach people to manage their money better, but actually you are dealing with people who have been on the streets and are not always financially responsible.

“We will not be able to recover the debt from the people we are helping, which means we will have to be more cautious, more selective of the people we help because if we are not that could mean the end for us.”

"Twenty people sleep rough in town centre every night"

According to outreach worker Dan Wheeler there are about 20 people in Kingston town centre sleeping rough at any one time.

His job is to build relationships with the street sleepers, and is often out on the streets early in the morning with a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich.

He said: “People believe because we are in an affluent area there is not a problem with homelessness.

“I work with at least 20 people and that is not even including the rest of the borough.

“We see people from all walks of life – people who had families, jobs, even their own business.

“Now, with this new benefit cap coming in, things are only going to get worse.”

Georgie Forshaw is living in temporary accommodation with her four-year-old son organized by
Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness, having been homeless since 2010. She also volunteers at their Fife Road drop in centre.

She said:”Without these guys God know where I would be. I left an abusive relationship and nobody could help me.”

For more on Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness visit kcah.org.uk

Visit We Back Love Kingston or love-kingston.org.uk for more on the appeal.