Claire White and Kath Robinson introduce two new community-led housing projects working to tackle a shortage of appropriate housing for young adults with learning difficulties.
As the country’s only community-led housing (CLH) hub, Cwmpas’ Communities Creating Homes team is tasked with delivering the advice, guidance and support necessary to grow the number of homes in Wales which are owned, managed and/or stewarded by local people for the benefit of the wider community. With well over 300 new homes in the pipeline, we are enabling groups from Penmynydd on Ynys Môn to Bishopston on the Gower Peninsula to build a thriving CLH sector in Wales.
Sounds great, right? But what does it look like in practice? Well, the simple answer is: affordable homes created by not-for-profit community organisations which are sensitive to local needs and conscious of their impact, both socially and environmentally. Essentially, the right types of homes in the right places at the right price.
What’s right for one community, however, may not be right for the next. Despite the commonalities outlined above, therefore, each project we support is uniquely shaped by the particular motivations of the people at the helm. For some, it is about bringing empty or historically significant buildings back into use. For others, the preservation of culture and language in areas impacted by high numbers of holiday lets and second homes is key. Others still are driven by a more communal design ideology where space and resources are pooled and shared. The list goes on…
Every now and then, though, we see a pattern emerge. One such recurring theme is the lack of appropriate housing for young adults with learning disabilities who feel ready to leave the family home and live independently with support from chosen individuals or organisations. Here we introduce two incredible CLH groups working to address this:
Dream Home Swansea
Dream Home Swansea is an innovative community-led housing project co-designed by young people with learning disabilities and their parents and carers. With support from Cwmpas, it seeks to transform the transition from living at home into independent living, giving the young people more voice, choice and control about where and with who they live. They are aspiring to create new homes where the young people can live fulfilled healthy lives in a supportive environment. They hope to pool resources and procure additional care of their choosing and are building a business case to work with an experienced housing association.
The story of 26-year-old Elin gets to the heart of why Dream Home Swansea is needed. Elin watched her sister go through the exciting process of moving away for college and wanted to do the same. She fulfilled this wish when she secured a place in Coleg Elidyr in Llandovery and happily stayed there for five years. When the time came to discuss her future, Elin wanted to remain independent but to do so closer to her roots in her home town of Swansea.
Elin returned to her family home and was on the housing list for 12 months before she was offered a place in a house in Clydach. However, when trying to decide if this would be a good home for her, Elin viewed the house and room but was not allowed to meet the other residents unless she committed to moving in. She decided after visiting the house without knowing who she might be living with that it wasn’t for her.
Two years later Elin is still living in the family home but is excited to be part of creating Dream Home Swansea’s first development. Elin has been engaged with the project from the beginning taking part in activities to shape the vision. The critical and different element of Dream Home Swansea is a friendship group where potential residents are building friendships and developing independent living skills. Through this group, the young people are playing an integral role in creating a healthy, safe, well-designed place to live that will enhance their quality of life and well-being. By putting them at the centre they are developing their own peer support network and ensuring their home is tailored to their individual needs and also will be adaptable as their needs change.
A Home For Life
A Home For Life is a group of parents and carers based in and around Newtown with an idea for an innovative model of supported living for young adults who have learning disabilities and/or autism in Powys. They want to partner with statutory services and other organisations in Powys to co-produce a supported living project where people with lived experience play a leading and lasting role.
They envision a development process that has the young adults’ voices at its centre, culminating in a long-term secure home which accommodates not only their needs but their interests and ambitions. They see a regular programme of activities, opportunities for social enterprise, and an ethos that embraces infusion and cohesion with the wider community.
A Home For Life have carefully researched the existing policy landscape, and feel confident that priorities align with the strategic direction nationally and locally in terms of service provision for people with learning disabilities and/or autism. Consequently, they strongly believe that their vision, lived experience and leadership can play a vital part in the delivery of cost-effective, community-led supported housing in Powys.
Want to know more? The Communities Creating Homes team would love to hear from you! Contact us at:co-op.housing@cwmpas.coop
Claire White and Kath Robinson are community-led housing enablers within Cwmpas’ Communities Creating Homes team. The team supports communities to develop their own co-operative and community-led housing schemes to grow the number of affordable, low-carbon homes available for people in need. This project is funded by the Nationwide Foundation and Welsh Government.