For many of the people we work with, finding a secure home and sustainable employment represents the final step in their recovery and the key to moving on from homelessness to enjoy a more independent and fulfilling life.
To support as many people as possible with these goals, our employment and Private Rented Sector (PRS) accommodation services work in tandem across our services to enable clients to achieve sustainable employment and accommodation outcomes.
In 2019-20 we supported 915 people to move into their own independent accommodation, supported 189 people into employment, helped 519 people into training or education, and assisted 137 people into volunteering.
Education, Training and Employment Opportunities (ETE)
Our services across Camden, Islington and Haringey focus on offering education, training, volunteering and employment opportunities specifically to people in North London recovering from substance use. Our clients face multiple barriers that put them at a severe disadvantage when trying to find and maintain employment, such as lack of a permanent address, minimal access to opportunities, welfare changes when employed and an offending history, as well as possible discrimination from employers. Through a mix of both group programmes and one to one support, our clients are provided with a range of opportunities to move forwards with their ETE goals.
Our Fuchsia programme works with clients to build their confidence and self-esteem, and gain new skills in order to support them to move into employment. Delivered via a series of engaging and interactive group work sessions, the programme also promotes peer support, giving clients a chance to make new social connections both inside and outside their community.
In February 2020, we piloted our first organisation-wide Employment Academy, supported by our corporate partner Linkedin, which was made available to every client aged 18 or over who was motivated to explore their work options.
SHP's Peer Mentoring Programme aims to model visible recovery, with our Peers Mentors empowering our clients to take control of their recovery - and supporting them to make positive changes to transform their lives.
Independent living
The housing crisis and the scarcity of social housing represents a major barrier to achieving sustainable outcomes for vulnerable people. In the private sector, spiralling rents, low quality accommodation and insecure tenancies, coupled with a reluctance among private sector landlords to let properties to homeless or socially excluded people, mean it can be extremely difficult for our clients to get a foothold in decent and secure accommodation. To address this, we work in partnership with landlords across London to support people into private rented sector accommodation (PRS) and ensure that they can maintain their tenancies.
Our PRS Access officers provide clients with comprehensive pre-tenancy support, equipping them with all the skills and knowledge they need to maintain a tenancy. To ensure a ready supply of properties available to clients, we partner with private landlords, providing bonds and direct payments, acting as a letting agent and helping to minimise void periods.
In October 2018 SHP became a truly pan-London charity for the first time when we embarked on a partnership with MTCnovo and the National Probation Service (NPS) to deliver a London-wide housing support service. Made up of Housing Advice Workers, community based floating support staff and a PRS access team working collaboratively, in 2019-20 we worked in close partnership with probation services to support 657 medium to high risk offenders leaving prison to access, secure and sustain accommodation at this critical time.
The challenges of finding a home and job are intrinsically linked. Building on the success of our ETE and PRS access work, our Achieving Potential programme joins up these strands to enable clients to achieve sustainable employment and accommodation outcomes in tandem. We aim to make this offer available to every client across SHP. who is ready to move on, providing specialist support to assist each individual with their housing, employment, financial resilience and digital skills needs, as well as offering access to support from our growing pool of Peer Mentors.
“At first I was looking for a house myself and then worked with the council, but it was difficult. When SHP got involved it was really fast and they found me a place I really like. I love the area and I love my big garden.” -Aisha, client housed in Haringey