Helping people to live independently

The Supporting People Programme Grant means people get help in their own communities without adding extra costs and pressure to public services.

I recently stopped a Torfaen man from being illegally evicted from his flat and becoming homeless. This would have worsened his mental health issues and put him in unsuitable accommodation.

His privately rented flat was flooded and his landlord moved him to another home. During one of my support visits, I was checking his letters and he showed me a three-month eviction notice. I could see it had been illegally post-dated.

This had been making him anxious. He is bi-polar, schizophrenic and has anger management issues.

I spoke to his landlord who wasn’t very happy that I had spotted what he had been trying to do. The extra time meant that we could get his application into Homeseeker ready to start bidding for a new place to live.

I supported him through this and, in a lovely coincidence, a flat that he lived in many years ago became available and his application was successful.

He couldn’t manage the contact with the different agencies such as removals, housing benefit, the health charities and the Department for Work and Pensions. My work with him made sure it was smooth and he knew what was happening at every step.

He is meeting all of his support outcomes which we agreed when I began working with him. It won’t be long before I stop seeing him and take on another person to help live independently.


Amanda James
Support Officer, Bron Afon Community Housing

Little by Little - Small Changes lead to Better Living

Welsh Government's Warm Homes Wales project has funded 5 Local Authorities (RCT, Torfaen, Cardiff, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr) to take a joined up approach in order to support its households to take action to save energy alongside the installation of energy efficiency measures. The South Wales based energy behaviour change project, Little by Little, has been supporting households across the local authority areas, targeting over 1400 households who have previously received energy saving measures under the Welsh Government's Warm Homes Wales.

The project's key aims are to educate and empower householders to use their energy more efficiently through looking at the whole household's approach towards energy, whilst providing support to improve the quality of life of all those they engage with.

Advisors carry out a home health check with each household, along with energy saving advice that provides information on how to switch providers and the savings that could be made.

Using its partners, the project signposts those who require onto training, education and employment opportunities, digital inclusion advice, along with debt support and other house management opportunities.

As well as providing adults with an OCN level one in Understanding Home Energy via its training sessions, the project is also working with schools encouraging children to become Junior Green Energy Champions via its fun workshops. The project will also be carrying out local energy fairs where energy providers, partners and other community groups can engage with the community to help reduce those affected by fuel poverty.

The project is being run on behalf of the five local authorities by Melin Homes. Allison Cawley, Project Manager said: “This really is a fantastic programme that is helping those in the community who are on the verge of or already in fuel poverty to make some big savings as well as supporting them with their employment, training, digital and financial requirements.”

For more information or to discuss the project, please contact: Allison on 01495 745947, 07791 657386 or allison.cawley@melinhomes.co.uk.

Allison Cawley
Project Manager, Little by Little

Tech makes life easier, but what if you can’t see?

If you couldn’t see or hear like most of the population, you might think that smartphones, tablets and e-readers would be of little or no use to you. Fortunately, you would be wrong.

Online Today is a Big Lottery funded project run by RNIB Cymru and its partners - North Wales Society for the Blind, Vision Support and Action on Hearing Loss.

In the next couple of years, we’re aiming to work with 6,000 people across Wales with sight and hearing loss in order to show, teach and demonstrate how inbuilt functionality and specialist software can open up the world of digital technology.

Lots of people just don’t know where to start when it comes to digital technology. That’s where Online Today comes in. We have a team of eight Digital Skills Officers scattered liberally across the country who are running events, small group sessions and delivering home sessions to those that have difficulty getting about or who live in remote areas. We take along a whole load of the latest technology, and a “mi-fi” to use where there is no broadband connection, so people can get hands on with an iPad, smartphone or laptop. People are given time and support to explore and play with the equipment. They are shown how to access accessibility features, set up e-mail, use Facetime or Skype, do their shopping or banking and even set up Facebook or Twitter accounts. And it's not just a one off - Online Today encourages people to attend as many sessions as possible or we’ll go to their home for as long as is needed to build up their confidence.

Who qualifies for this project? Anyone who has sight or hearing loss. They don’t need to be registered as visually impaired, hearing impaired or blind but their senses do need to be adversely affected due to age or health condition. If you’re not sure about referring someone, then give us a ring and we’ll see what we can do to help.

You can also check http://www.rnib.org.uk/online-today-event-search for up and coming events.

We’re on 029 2082 8518 for further details, or e-mail us at Onlinetodaycymru@rnib.org.uk


Chris Hoyle
Digital Inclusion Manager, RNIB Cymru

A view from housing: What would the draft Wales Bill mean in practice?

The draft Wales Bill, published last week, caused all the usual political rumblings. Amid all the talk of insults to Wales, Whitehall being a bad loser, and the looming threat of a constitutional crisis, there doesn’t seem to have been too much discussion about the practical implications of the proposals within the Bill.

A devolved legislature with extensive powers is now clearly the settled will of the people of Wales.

And while technical debates about constitutional mechanisms and legislation probably won’t be a topic of conversation as the people of Wales eat their tea tonight; job security, health, and housing probably will.

What will the draft Wales Bill mean to, for example, a social housing tenant in Bangor? Or a homeless woman in a hostel in Cardiff?

Housing is probably the area of devolved policy where we have seen Wales and England diverge most over the last 16 years.

Not only is devolved government the settled will of the people of Wales, but a vastly different approach to housing (amongst other things) is too.

In Wales, we have had successive governments committed to investment in social housing, through Social Housing Grant, which has allowed the housing association sector to provide an average of 2,000 additional homes each year. At the same time, Welsh Government supports a ‘Help to Buy’ product which allows better access to home ownership. Across the border, UK Government pursues home ownership as the be all and end all of housing policy, with funding for social housing sacrificed for a loosely defined ‘affordable’ home ownership offer.

Devolution has meant that the housing association sector in Wales has had an opportunity to define itself very differently from our friends across the border.

The Right to Buy for housing associations and the 1% cut to social rents will have a profound impact on affordable housing as we know it in England. In Wales, there are proposals afoot to abolish Right to Buy completely, and we hope that Welsh Government won’t follow the same path on rents – a path now roundly rejected by housing providers and tenants groups.

The draft Wales Bill threatens the ability to legislate for these policy differences – voted for by the people of Wales.

Welsh Government suggests that the Housing Act, which took action on the scourge of empty homes, created new models of co-operative housing and takes action to improve the private sector, would not have been within the competence of the Assembly. This is inexplicable.

It is not a leap to suggest that the proposals in their current form take us back to the dark days of the Legislative Competence Order (LCO). Those of us schooled in the history of LCOs, or indeed housing policy, will know that this didn’t work.

The Reserved Powers model this Bill seeks to enshrine should be about simplicity and clarity. For legislators and voters.

In its present form, the Bill adds to the confusion - not only threatening to slam the brakes on the devolution journey, but threatening to halt the significant progress Wales has made as a nation in a number of areas. For housing, devolution hasn’t just allowed us to do things differently; it has allowed us to better meet the needs, and the will, of the people of Wales.



Aaron Hill
Public Affairs Manager, Community Housing Cymru Group

This blog post was originally published on IWA's Click on Wales site. You can read it here. 

Gareth's story

Read about how the Supporting People Programme changed Gareth's life for the better...

What were the circumstances which led to you needing your support provider?
I was homeless and living in a tent. I was trying to overcome drug addiction but this is difficult when you don’t have secure accommodation.

Which organisation/support provider helped you?
Solas' Dyfrig House scheme in Cardiff

How did your support provider help you? Dyfrig House is a place where I feel safe. I have been in other hostels where I feel like I have to watch my back, but not here. Support to go swimming has helped improve my self confidence. I wouldn’t have liked using the changing room with lots of other people when I was homeless, but I now feel confident, even when it’s busy. I’ve also had support to enrol on the Footsteps to Recovery programme to address my substance misuse issues and now that I have completed this I have enrolled on the MILE programme to help me fulfil my life goal of becoming a substance misuse worker.

What did you find most valuable about your support provider?
The fact that it is a dry hostel means I feel safe.

Where would you be now if it wasn’t for your support provider?
I really couldn’t say, but a lot closer to my death for sure.

What are your hopes and aspirations for the future?
To become a substance misuse worker. For now I need to stay clean, complete the MILE programme and start my volunteering.

Christopher's story

Christopher explains how the Supporting People Programme has changed his life...


What were the circumstances which led to you needing your support provider?
I was homeless following the breakdown of a relationship and I was abusing alcohol and drugs. I didn’t take my medication and my mental health deteriorated which resulted in me being admitted to hospital following a suicide attempt


Which organisation/support provider helped you? 
Solas' Dyfrig House scheme in Cardiff.


How did your support provider help you?
They help me massively. With my mental health problems, I always feel like people have looked down on me, but here there are people who listen, who I am able to talk to.

I have a roof over my head and people to show me the steps and give me the tools to get through my illness.


What did you find most valuable about your support provider?
Having people who listen and who are always there if I need to talk.


Where would you be now if it wasn’t for your support provider?
Probably 6 feet under or in hospital due to the drink or my mental health.


What are your hopes and aspirations for the future?
To get better, and to one day move on and hopefully help people in my position and to be able to tell them there’s light at the end of the tunnel because there IS hope.

Digital Co-operative Housing in Wales

Further to the One Big Housing Conference 2015 in Llandrindod Wells where the Wales Co-operative Centre exhibited and Dave Brown, our Director of Communities and Inclusion, ran a session on ‘Meeting the Skills Gap’, I’m ‘Identifying the Opportunity within a Challenge’ by demonstrating the use of digital inclusion within co-operative housing across Wales.

The Centre has been supporting the development of co-operative housing across Wales for three years which has grown from eight ‘pioneers’ to nearly thirty schemes. Forty-one of these social rented homes are now occupied in Cardiff, where the Home Farm Village housing co-operative members communicate through a closed Facebook site and photos are tweeted by Cadwyn HA, who helped develop the scheme. Some of the residents hadn’t used social media before so being part of the group, and with the support of other co-operative members, their participation and skills have increased which demonstrates the power of formal and informal volunteering. They now resolve issues and keep each other informed about suppliers, service providers, refuse collection and anti-social behaviour, through Facebook.

The Wales Co-operative Centre also has a strong track record in the area of digital inclusion. It is currently delivering the Digital Communities Wales project for Welsh Government. The Centre has been helping communities get online since 2005 and was the lead delivery partner of the Welsh Government’s Communities@One and Communities 2.0 projects, both funded by the European Union. The Centre has extensive experience of developing and implementing co-operative solutions to strengthen communities and promote inclusion.

Recent statistics show that 56% of social housing tenants have broadband access compared to 78% of the total population. The aim is for 100% of co-operative residents to be digitally included. One way in which this is being achieved is by tenants using social media, as a platform that brings people together.

In Merthyr Tydfil, ‘Taf Fechan’ Housing co-op has recently set up a Facebook page and website. They have free wi-fi in all flats and hope to carry out most of their training and business electronically. They also tweet - @Taffechancoop.

There are other good examples of this all over Wales. In Newport, where nineteen leasehold shared-ownership homes are currently being built, members communicate through a closed Facebook site and also have a public page. There will be opportunities in future to market available properties through social media.

In Carmarthenshire, founder members of a site that has twenty-seven ‘Intermediate Rent’ homes also have a closed and public Facebook page. Members have chosen the co-op’s logo, street names and internal finishes for the homes through the Facebook page. Training presentations are uploaded to the Facebook site for members that can’t make any of the regular meetings. An emerging group in Powys uses Facebook as they start to engender interest.

Further North, in Wrexham, a small self-build housing co-op has both a website and Facebook site. They have gone public online with the website and have already accumulated over 300 likes on Facebook. They are getting some great messages of support from local community and from those already working on sustainable projects.

There is a large Community Land Trust in Pembrokeshire, which is establishing a website that links into the local community council’s website. In Swansea there is a small established housing co-op that also has a Facebook presence.

All of this not only shows the power of social media, but it provides a great opportunity to help people do more online as they develop housing co-operatives – a win-win as far as we’re concerned. The development and interconnection of all these co-ops across would not be possible without social media and the support of the Wales Co-operative Centre and the Confederation of Co-operative Housing.


Dave Palmer, Wales Co-operative Centre