Home News Commonweal launches its Call for New Ideas 2022 to support organisations with original housing projects
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Miriam Lawson

Commonweal launches its Call for New Ideas 2022 to support organisations with original housing projects

—February 10, 2022—

Commonweal Housing has reopened its partnership programme, Call for New Ideas 2022, inviting not-for-profit organisations working with marginalised groups to submit imaginative and original ideas for housing solutions to social injustices.

Find out more and apply to Call for New Ideas 2022 >>

Commonweal is offering frontline organisations funding, support measures and bespoke property in an effort to work with sector experts to design and deliver housing projects that support vulnerable individuals.

Call for New Ideas, now in its third year, has already successfully supported tens of organisations in developing original housing solutions to social injustices.

This year, Commonweal is especially interested in ideas related to its priority areas of work:

  • The criminal justice system
  • Violence against women and girls (VAWG)
  • Systemic injustices that occur at points of transition in people’s lives

Commonweal is searching for original and imaginative ideas from organisations of all sizes, but especially from black and minority ethnic-led or focused organisations.

The charity will support successful applicants from inception through to full project development and exiting the project at the end of its life cycle. It will support partners in sharing learnings through media, policy work, and project replication.

Organisations are initially invited to carry out a short-term Feasability Study to establish and test the viability of their idea and proposed model. This initial study will be used to determine whether the idea could operate as a property-based pilot project.

For more information or an informal conversation about the application process, contact apply@commonweal.org.uk

The need for suitable accommodation for ex-offenders remains critical, with more than half of prison leavers released into homelessness in the first year of the pandemic. Meanwhile the number of households made homeless by domestic abuse has risen by more than a third since the start of the pandemic, forcing some women to choose between homelessness or staying with an abusive partner.

In addition a recent Refugee Council report found that 98 percent of refugees referred to an accommodation scheme were homeless.

The rates of homelessness in these populations make plain the failures in giving these groups adequate access to the housing that will help them overcome the challenges they face. These social policy failings have been the rationality behind Commonweal’s focus areas and has helped inspire its Call for New Ideas 2022.

Applications close at 9am Tuesday 3rd May 2022.

Amy Doyle, Deputy Chief Executive at Commonweal Housing, said: “As the housing crisis deepens, the already marginalised are often hit the hardest, doubling their disadvantage. The sad truth is that we know how foundational housing can be in helping people overcome the barriers they face, but because of these barriers, it’s often housing they lose out on. Commonweal is privileged and proud to have the freedom to test and explore new ideas for housing solutions to social injustice. Sharing that freedom with frontline organisations is at the heart of who we are.”

Commonweal Housing has an extensive track record of supporting project partners to run impactful and replicable pilot projects, including by sourcing social investment, offering subsidised rent on properties, commissioning external evaluation, and offering strategic guidance and operational support. It will support partners in sharing learnings through media, policy work, and project replication.

In return, Commonweal is looking for a committed partner with a creative idea for a new project and the expertise to execute it with Commonweal’s support. Get in touch!

How to apply

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