Employment and Skills Week - housing is a rare case of economic growth

Five years ago, i2i launched the first Can Do Toolkit in response to demand from the housing sector for practical help to capture the power of housing investment for local people and communities. It wasn’t a new idea. In my TPAS Cymru days, I had the privilege to be shown the work of the Young Builders Trust who, in partnership with Cardiff Community HA, had set up a training and employment project for young people who were then able to move into the homes they had helped build and refurbish. Many other associations and local authorities have been involved in similar schemes over the years.

The difference now is that this approach is standard for most housing associations and local authority landlords across Wales. Our annual survey published in March showed that the housing sector, by adopting the i2i approach, had created 5,135 jobs and training opportunities - 1,365 every year. And this happened at a time when the Welsh economy has struggled with recession. Compare housing with the steel industry, a sector close to my heart as the proud son of a steelworker. Tata Steel employs just under 4,000 at its Port Talbot works and is the largest single site employer in Wales. In July, a further 400 redundancies were announced. The contrast with housing is evident both in terms of the numbers and the direction of travel – housing is a rare case of economic growth.

The other good news is that where housing has led the way, others are following. The recently launched Community Benefits Guide from Value Wales (you can obtain a copy from communitybenefits@wales.gov.uk) has adopted the Can Do Toolkit ‘double default’ approach, making targeted recruitment and training the first ‘ask’. Our motivation remains to make real and lasting differences to people's lives. In the words of my i2i colleague Gareth Jones, community benefits are:

‘a long term solution to bring employment, economic and social gain to disadvantaged populations to help break the cycle of poverty and promote equality and inclusion.’

This is a long haul, made worse by welfare reform, austerity and more looming public service cuts. What can’t be denied is that housing continues to lead the way in the most challenging of times. CHC and its members, local authorities, contractors, small businesses and communities themselves have contributed to this success and learnt huge amounts in the process. We deserve a collective pat on the back. And then we need to refocus and move on, build on what we’ve achieved and keep our eye on the prize of long term, economically vibrant communities across Wales.

Keith Edwards, Director
CIH Cymru

This week is Employment and Skills Week, run by the Community Housing Cymru Group in partnership with CIH Cymru and NIACE Cymru. 

Employment and Skills Week - Leading the Learning

The impact of welfare reform to date and impending Universal Credit means the impetus for landlords to move workless households closer to the job market has never been greater.  Yes, we need the unemployed to take up work-related activities to prevent benefit sanctions (figures from the DWP show the highest number of sanctions against claimants since jobseeker's allowance was introduced in 1996).  But the breadth of the work the sector is currently undertaking is nothing new. In fact, a recent straw poll I undertook with our members on Yammer found that all of the housing associations who responded were core funding their employment programmes and had been doing so for many years.

Employment activities provided by the sector do not extend to just providing work placements but cover the whole spectrum of work-related activity, including tackling basic literacy issues and encouraging tenant involvement, to funding qualifications, providing work placements and providing practical support to tenants who might otherwise have slipped through the net.

It’s therefore really important that the sector links in with adult learning organisations, both at a local and strategic level, to make sure we are able to feed into and influence developments. 

In partnership with CIH Cymru and NIACE Cymru, 22^nd – 28^th September will be “Leading the Learning” week.  During this week we will be holding a seminar with NIACE, the national voice for life-long learning, the details of which are yet to be announced.

Further opportunities to raise the profile of what the sector is doing in this area are available via Welsh Government’s Lift programme. The programme aims to provide 5,000 training and employment opportunities for people living in households where no-one is in work.  At the moment, the programme is being delivered in nine of the Welsh Government's Communities First clusters until the end of 2017.  The sector will shortly be asked to make a commitment in terms of what it can deliver.

In the meantime, do get on board with our Leading the Learning Week. It’s an opportunity to showcase what we’re already doing and, equally, if your organisation is seeking to increase activity in this area it’s an opportunity for you to participate in some of our suggested activities, which range from tenant shadowing to holding your own work and skills showcase event. 

For more information on Leading the Learning, the Work and Skills Information Sharing Group (which meets in September) or how to get involved on Yammer, please contact clare-james@chcymru.org.uk.

Clare James
Housing Services Policy Officer