News

Call for New Ideas: Commonweal were fantastic and supported us all the way through the process

By Gaynor Brooke / August 21, 2023

Gaynor Brooke, Head of Services at successful 2022 Call for New Ideas applicant Servol Community Services, reflects on her organisation’s journey with Commonweal’s Call for New Ideas: I have worked in the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector in the West Midlands for over 20 years and joined Servol Community Services in 2021…

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The impacts of regeneration on women in the Tower Hamlets

By Grace Hill / July 25, 2023

Grace Hill is a recent graduate from the University of Birmingham’s School of Social Policy, who received the Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary from Commonweal in her final year. The Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary from Commonweal Housing gave me financial freedom. The £2,500 grant money allowed me to devote my time to my studies by drastically…

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Former Move on Up resident shares how the project shaped his future

By Lauren Aronin / June 15, 2023

Tim, a tenant of the Move on Up housing project, share his experience as a young adult carer and how the project helped him shape his future. Move on Up which provides supportive housing to young adult carers aged 18-25 in partnership with Quaker Social Action (QSA), approaches the end of its seven-year pilot period.…

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The news made Homes for Ukraine a success, now we must harness it to protect all migrants

By Harry Williams / May 5, 2023

This article was originally published in the Chartered Institute of Housing Spring 2023 Housing Rights newsletter.  When the heart-breaking images of the young Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, lying face-down on a beach in Turkey swept across our frontpages, it felt as though an impasse had been broken: a moment of realisation that the perils of…

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Young adult carers’ housing needs must be part of a Carers Action Plan

By Lois Gallagher / April 27, 2023

In partnership with Quaker Social Action and Commonweal, Move on Up provides housing alongside empathetic and specialist support for young adult carers. As Move on Up comes to its scheduled end in July, Lois Gallagher, Move on Up Housing and Support Manager, highlights the importance of ensuring the housing needs of young adult carers are increasingly…

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The true scale of people dying at the hands of exploitative landlords requires urgent attention 

By Lauren Aronin / April 25, 2023

Harrowing figures from the annual homeless count from the Museum of Homelessness paint a bleak picture of the reality facing vulnerable homeless people, with someone now dying every 6.5 hours on average.  Last year, 1,313 people died while homeless across England and Wales. This is a 20 percent increase on the previous year when the…

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