Three new partnerships in Wales are celebrating after being awarded over £8.3 million of money raised thanks to National Lottery players to help end homelessness. A new scheme to award up to £3 million of funding to address rural homelessness will shortly be announced.
Partnerships of organisations from the third, public, and private sectors will use grants from The National Lottery Community Fund to help end homelessness. Plans include early intervention and prevention, specialist trauma-informed services, and support for people who have the most complex needs.
Tackling youth homelessness in Cardiff
Homelessness charity Llamau will lead a partnership of organisation in Cardiff including Cardiff Council, Wales Refugee Council, Cardiff University, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, and other local third sector housing partners to deliver the ‘My Way Home’ project with a grant of £3,383,157.
The work will support young people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. The partnership intends to make sure that youth homelessness can be tackled earlier and hopefully prevented. They will offer support finding and keeping accommodation.
Frances Beecher, Chief Executive of Llamau, explained:
“We’d all like to say a huge thank you to National Lottery players for raising this generous funding to deliver the collaborative project ‘My Way Home’.
“We cannot end homelessness unless we end youth homelessness as nearly 50% of adults first experienced homelessness as young people. For too long, young people have been discriminated against for their natural responses to the trauma they have experienced. Unequal access to services, and environments where young people do not feel safe and nurtured mean they disengage and repeat homelessness can happen.
“‘My Way Home’ will identify young people at risk of becoming homeless and prevent this occurring. Where we cannot prevent homelessness, we intend to make this rare, brief and non-recurrent, providing an enhanced range of trauma informed and person-centred services, so young people can leave homelessness behind for good. Llamau is really excited and proud to lead this innovative project, working closely with all our brilliant partners to deliver real change for young people across Cardiff.”
Llamau has vast experience of supporting people experiencing homelessness and one beneficiary explained: “They (Llamau) don’t just support you because it’s their job, they do it because they care. They’ve been through their own issues in life so can relate to young people. That makes it easier to ask for help.”
Training opportunities for people across Gwent
This £3 million partnership involves 18 different organisations that have come together to develop a social enterprise designed by people with experience of homelessness themselves. Led by charity The Wallich, dedicated to ending homelessness and rough sleeping in Wales, they will create and deliver training and employment opportunities for people that are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. They intend to give a wide range of people across Gwent with complex needs, better access to specialist services with experience of helping people who have suffered trauma.
The project will help to prevent homelessness by increasing opportunities for people to participate in training and personal development, and by improving support to the individual in greatest need. The partnership will work directly with private landlords to strengthen the stability and quality of tenancy relationships by providing more guidance and support.
Gareth Jones, Strategic Operations Lead for South East Wales at The Wallich, said:
“The pandemic has been a huge challenge for people experiencing homelessness, but we have risen to the challenge to keep people safe. However, we now expect many more people to be risk of homelessness. The Wallich are delighted to be working in partnership with like-minded agencies and local authorities to tackle the post-pandemic challenges ahead.
“This project aims to prevent homelessness by assisting people into work and improving access to advice and support. Preventing homelessness and creating resilient communities gives hope for a better future.”
Angela Lee, Gwent Supporting People Regional Development Coordinator at Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, added:
“Building upon the strong partnerships across agencies in Gwent, this project provides us with a fantastic opportunity and the scope to develop new models and ways of working collaboratively together, to ensure that when homelessness happens, it is rare, brief and non-recurrent.”
Helping those most in need in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot
The Wallich will also be a lead partner on a £2 million partnership of 24 third sector, public sector and educational institutions across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot to support people who have the most complex needs. The project will connect the support services more effectively and change systems to make sure people receive support when and how they need it. The project intends to reduce the likelihood that people with complex needs experience crisis and homelessness by intervening early. This should ensure that the support in place is joined up and takes account of the individual’s circumstances and past trauma. The partnership will involve private sector landlords by providing additional guidance, training and support.
Area Manager for Swansea & Neath Port Talbot at The Wallich, Debbie Mottely, said:
“While it’s known that different factors can cause a pathway to homelessness, poor mental health and homelessness are often interlinked. At The Wallich, we work with more than 9,000 people every year, many of whom have Adverse Childhood Experiences with some degree of trauma, complex and compound trauma.
“Every day, we see how unresolved trauma affects a person’s ability to manage their relationships and maintain stable employment or threaten their home. Without help, their trauma can result in repeat homelessness. This project is a real opportunity to address that.”
Wales Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, John Rose, said: “These partnerships show the crucial role that working together across sectors makes to tackling homelessness. Homelessness can affect anyone for a variety of reasons and we’re glad to be able to support the shared aim of making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring. National Lottery players raise more than £30 million each week for good causes across the UK each week and projects such as these show what a vital difference those players contribute to communities.”
