Section: Homelessness & Asylum Seekers
Housing and Jobs Link Package Announced
Speaking at a Housing Corporation stakeholder event on worklessness, Housing Minister Caroline Flint announced how £70 million will be allocated to 69 homeless projects across England to ensure that those getting hostel accommodation are also supported and encouraged to find employment.
Projects include training for residents to learn practical skills from catering to sound engineering, through to self-financing social enterprises - such as cafes and furniture making. There will be help for homeless people to set up their own social enterprises - from a farm in West Dorset, a Sports Academy in Gateshead to a surfing school in Newquay.
The minister also announced:
A prospectus, inviting 15 local authorities to pioneer an enhanced 'housing options' service. Moving away from a one-size fits all approach, these services will offer advice about all the options on offer - from social housing to private sector renting and low cost home ownership.
Advice won't be restricted to housing, but will also look at people's overall circumstances - whether they need advice on childcare, training, or employment.
This approach is already working successfully for those at risk of becoming homeless, but now the principles will help people in need before they reach crisis point.
A new Employment Academy for London by Thames Reach will help hundreds of rough sleepers and homeless people into education, training and employment. To be funded by £4 million of new investment and based south of the Thames, it will include employment advice, activities, skills training and social enterprise helping homeless people learn new skills.
There will a social enterprise restaurant providing support and skills training as well as meals, run by chef Simon Boyle.
It will also provide business start-up advice and fund training in painting, decorating and maintenance for teams of 'handymen' employed by Lambeth Council.
Two new stakeholder groups headed by independent experts in the housing sector looking at potential incentives, obligations and support for those entering social housing to help them take up employment.
Jane Slowey, Chief Executive of the Foyer Federation, will lead the 'Incentives and Obligations' policy group.
June Barnes will head the 'Housing Support' group, which will look at support tenants may need to move into work and how this might best be delivered.
- The CIH will develop good practice guidance for housing providers on tackling worklessness, sponsored by the Housing Corporation.
Caroline Flint said:
"The debate that I started a few weeks ago will continue over the coming months. The more that I've talked to those working in the sector, the more impressed I've been with the work that is already going on to try and address these issues. Social landlords are getting involved in a whole range of activities, not just to tackle worklessness, but to overcome economic inequality and promote social mobility."
Homelessness Charities Compete for Social Enterprise Fund
A bicycle recycling project and a flat pack furniture workshop that provide employment to homeless people are among the fifteen organisations chosen to compete in the Spark social enterprise competition.
The finalists will pitch their business ideas to a panel of leading entrepreneurs, including Nigel Kershaw, Big Issue Invest chief executive, at an event in May. The best organisations win a share of a £500,000 prize fund provided by Communities and Local Government, mentoring and a two-day 'enterprise makeover'.
All fifteen finalists will receive coaching to help them develop their social enterprises to help more homeless people into training, volunteering and jobs.
The announcement follows the launch in December of the £1.5 million competition, which challenged the homelessness sector to go beyond standard homeless services, like providing food and accommodation, to offer more training and employment opportunities for homeless people.
The competition is part of a refocusing of Government homelessness strategy, challenging hostels and charities to promote greater entrepreneurial spirit and give homeless people opportunities to develop the skills and confidence to move onto sustained independent living.
The fifteen finalists are:
- Acumen Community Enterprise Development Trust works in disadvantaged areas of the North East. Through its social enterprise, Possibility Place, people who do not have a job or who have low skills are supported to develop skills for life and to move into employment.
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Travelling Light, the social enterprise of Bradford-based Assisi House Project, makes it possible for people from excluded groups to make music and radio, providing them with opportunities to develop new skills in music and IT whilst exploring their creativity.
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Bikeworks, a London-based community cycle organisation, plans to start up a project in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and London Cycle Campaign to recycle stolen/ recovered bikes, reduce landfill and offer training and employment to homeless people.
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Brent Homeless User Group, a user-led organisation in North West London, runs a social enterprise called Community Insight which provides training and employment around customer research, surveys and mystery shopping to development service users' skills, confidence and employment opportunities.
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Brighton Housing Trust plans to roll-out its two-year-old 'Dine!' catering project to establish it as a commercial catering service for Brighton and Hove events, providing training and employment opportunities for people who have been homeless.
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Chester and District Housing Trust is preparing to launch a social enterprise initiative called NEST to work with large local employers and to teach homeless people skills in painting and decorating and basic maintenance and construction.
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Gilead Foundations' social enterprise operations centre around an organic Devon farm, which currently provides accommodation, rehabilitation, training and employment for 25 men, women and children, who would otherwise be homeless.
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Noah Enterprise provides a practical, empowering social enterprise and caring welfare service to homeless, marginalised and excluded people in Luton based around furniture restoration and white good refurbishment.
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Novas Scarman Group's mission is to transform people's lives through arts, enterprise and community support. It has plans well underway to develop a talent agency called Can Do People, which will teach skills to people who have been homeless and place them in work.
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Plymouth Access to Housing (Path) believes that every person has a right to decent, affordable accommodation. It plans to establish a not-for-profit letting agency in Plymouth, charging landlords competitive fees and creating an easier route into privately-rented housing for clients.
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The people who work at Leicester-based social enterprise Stride (the trading arm of SHARP Trading (Leicester) Ltd) assemble, recycle, renovate, sell and deliver furniture. The enterprise aims to help disadvantaged people improve their chances in life by offering training and placements in a working environment.
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Plymouth-based Shekinah Mission teaches bricklaying, plastering and art and craft skills to socially-disadvantaged and excluded adults to develop their skills and help them back into employment, accommodation and independent living, leading to full participation in society.
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StreetShine is a professional shoe care service that provides employment and training opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness or suffered disadvantage in the job market and are in the process of rebuilding their lives.
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The Salvation Army plans to set up a social enterprise that will train and employ people who have experienced homelessness and are at a point of developing skills to return to the work place. The initiative will be centred around portable appliance testing.
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The Society of St James' social enterprise, Jamie's Computers, provides training and learning opportunities to those who have a history of homelessness, recent unemployment, mental health difficulties and substance misuse. Its services include IT disposal, computer sales, IT services and IT training.
