Commonweal presents Annual Review: Building Together​
Commonweal Housing has published its latest annual review, entitled Building Together, reflecting on the past twelve months of investigating housing solutions to social issues.
This year’s activities focused on learning, listening, and laying the groundwork for the future. We engaged in preparatory work for upcoming housing pilots and formed new partnerships - all seeking to explore how housing can address injustices across Commonweal’s Strategic Themes:
New housing pilots
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Commonweal’s primary focus has been spent preparing to deliver three new property pilots later this year.
​​​This review features insights from these partners, highlighting how their models will operate, the necessity of these initiatives, and, importantly, the lessons they hope to learn.​
The Phoenix Project
In partnership with Servol Community Services
The Phoenix Project will provide specialist supported accommodation for male prison leavers with complex mental health needs.
Retreat Housing
In partnership with HAPANI – Horn of Africa People’s Aid Northern Ireland
HAPANI’s Retreat Housing model is set to support refugees and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa who reside in Belfast.
Depaul Northern Ireland Project
Depaul Northern Ireland aim to pilot a trauma-informed Housing First service for women leaving prison in Belfast.
You're Home project ​
This year also marked the second anniversary of the You’re Home project, which provides five affordable homes for individuals transitioning out of homelessness, in partnership with East Belfast Mission (EBM).
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The project acts as a pathway for tenants to move on from EBM's Hosford hostel and into good-quality, self-contained independent housing, while freeing up hostel spaces for those in need.
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In our latest review, Project Lead, Tom Dinnen, shares the positive outcomes for tenants and EBM’s plans to replicate the model ahead of its forthcoming evaluation. Read more below.
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You're Home
You’re Home is a five-property affordable rental accommodation project in east Belfast in partnership with Northern Irish homeless charity East Belfast Mission.
Ongoing
Commonweal’s Strategic Themes
​Commonweal's work centres around three ‘themes’ – policy areas where injustices have emerged but may sometimes be overlooked or where housing as part of the solution requires greater inspection. As of 2023, our focus areas are Criminal Justice, At-Risk Youth and Migration, Asylum, and Trafficking.
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This year, we concluded our horizon-scanning process, which involved commissioning studies to better understand the provision gaps across our three themes, and inform our project focuses thereafter. These reports can be found on our website here.
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The insights from these reports identified specific cohorts and key areas of housing need. Through two rounds of Call for New Ideas, Commonweal subsequently funded eight feasibility studies to develop housing model ideas. These studies offer new opportunities to explore how housing can support marginalised groups, such as neurodivergent young people or refugees and asylum seekers.
The details of these models can be found in the review.
Research
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Commonweal has also commissioned several research pieces investigating solutions to important housing issues, including the rural homelessness crisis and the barriers facing young people in supported housing.
Notably, we published No Access, No Way Out, which revealed the difficulties single homeless people encounter transitioning into the private rented sector (PRS). Commonweal continues to engage with relevant stakeholders on the recommendations arising from this report, particularly around reforming the Shared Accommodation Rate to enable PRS move-on for this group.
If you have questions or comments on this report, please do get in touch at info@commonweal.org.uk
“The collaborative emphasis displayed by the whole staff team and all our partners inspires the theme of this report – Building Together – as we confront numerous housing injustices in the knowledge that there is much work to do, and that we cannot do it alone. On that basis, Commonweal would like to express sincere thanks to all our partners, supporters, and friends, with whom we work to learn and serve those in need.”
Jack Mactaggart, Chair (2020-24), Amarjit Bains, Chair, and Ashley Horsey, CEO.
