A Local Solution to a National Challenge Review 2011 the Story So Far…
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A local solution to a national challenge Review 2011 www.coventrycyrenians.co.uk The story so far… 1973 A single volunteer was recruited to run a night shelter to provide accommodation for up to 10 single homeless men each night. 1976 The first paid employee was recruited to manage a team of volunteers. A new night shelter was opened, providing accommodation for 26 homeless men and women. 1984 In order to provide a better standard of accommodation, the night shelter was closed and replaced with five rented properties to offer emergency, medium and long-term accommodation. 1986 Successful fundraising enabled us to purchase our first property. 1987 In order to provide higher standards of support, the provision of services was handed over to a fully paid team of seven. 1988 We employed our first qualified Women’s Worker in response to significant increases in homelessness amongst women. 1989 We employed our first qualified Youth Worker. 1990 Our first property was opened dedicated to providing emergency and short-term accommodation to single women and women with children. 1994 Increases in the level of mental ill-health amongst our users results in fundraising to employ our first qualified Mental Health Nurse. 1998 We were awarded the largest ever National Lottery social sector grant in the West Midlands. This allowed us to start providing Floating Support and Outreach services working with people in their own accommodation or living in temporary accommodation without support. 2001 Further fundraising efforts enabled us to acquire new offices in Far Gosford Street from which we also offer advice services for women. 2001 Our Emergency Accommodation Service received national recognition when it is quoted in a government report as one of the best preventative models in the UK. 2005 A new project providing 24 hour emergency accommodation for young people was introduced. 2008 A merger with Norton House Day Centre enabled us to deliver a more seamless and effective service to homeless people in the city. 2009 We emerged from competitive tendering with our existing contracts and two new contracts for a mediation service for young people and a rough sleepers service. 2010 Successful tenders for new contracts in Warwickshire led to accommodation and resettlement services in Stratford and Nuneaton. A joint review of Day Centre services with the Coventry PCT led to the setting up of a Multiple Needs Service to target homeless people with complex needs. 2011 A successful bid to Crisis saw the opening of a Tenancy Sustainment project in partnership with Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau. 2 We believe that solutions to local homelessnesswww.coventrycyrenians.co.uk are best delivered by locally based agencies with detailed knowledge of the available support network. Coventry Cyrenians has been providing support to homeless and vulnerable people in Coventry and Warwickshire for nearly 40 years. Read on to learn about the services we provide and how you can help us to make an even greater impact at a time when homelessness is starting to increase. Chairman’s introduction I have been personally involved with Coventry Cyrenians for over 30 years. In that time the organisation has grown rapidly, in its way a sad reflection of the reality of continuing issues of homelessness in a modern society. The recession of 2008/9 and the painfully slow economic recovery are resulting in cuts in funding to the voluntary sector at a time when services provided by many charities are most needed. The last couple of years have been challenging and exciting as we came to terms with competitive tendering, a restructuring of many of our services and a move to new offices in Coventry city centre. We have secured contracts in Nuneaton and Stratford. The service based at Norton House in partnership with Coventry City Council Social Services and Coventry PCT has been remodelled to include a multiple needs service, focussing on clients with a number of issues that have either resulted in their homelessness or created major obstacles to efforts to maintain their accommodation. The Trustees believe that this review offers a timely reminder that there are still an unacceptably large number of people in Coventry and Warwickshire who are homeless or at real risk of losing their homes. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Trustees and staff of Coventry Cyrenians, to thank our supporters and volunteers who have helped build Cyrenians into the organisation it is today. I look forward to your continued support as there is much to be done. Our new offices at Oakwood House David Oliver FCCA,FCA Chair of Trustees 3 Chief Executive’s review In a world seemingly obsessed with statistics it is all too easy to forget that the impact of the work done by organisations such as Coventry Cyrenians is best measured by the effect we have on peoples’ lives. We are grateful to the clients who have allowed us to share their experiences in this review. The increasingly competitive funding climate has given fresh impetus to our new three-year strategy which includes a commitment to increase our external fundraising, develop new and innovative ways of generating income and generally reduce our reliance on local authority funding. We are currently involved in a number of exciting ventures which include the proposed redevelopment of the ground floor of our former offices in Far Gosford Street into a retail unit and coffee bar. This unique social enterprise project, in partnership with the fashion department at the Coventry University and Trading Standards, will be used to train some of our young service users. An important new development in Coventry is the formation of the Here2Help consortium of which we are founder members. This new body has been set up to broaden the range of funding opportunities by encouraging collaborative working between agencies in Coventry and has been welcomed by the city council. We are also working in partnership with Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau to deliver the “Crisis” private rented sector scheme which seeks to encourage private landlords to make their properties available to people who were previously homeless. We continue to expand our services in Warwickshire with a new Outreach project in Stratford which complements an existing accommodation service in the town. The hostel in Nuneaton is also proving to be a successful venture, offering accommodation and support to young people with challenging behaviour. The current climate of austerity presents opportunities as well as threats to the voluntary sector. A robust fundraising strategy is essential if we are to take advantage of those opportunities and continue to make a real impact on homelessness in Coventry and Warwickshire. Mike Fowler Chief Executive Mike Fowler with Councillor Marcus Lapsa and representatives from the local community after receiving a donation from Costcutter 4 www.coventrycyrenians.co.uk Cyrenians Social Enterprise Plans are well advanced for an exciting new venture in An artist’s impression of the shop fronts partnership with Coventry University and the Trading Standards offices in Coventry and Warwick. On the site of our former head office in Far Gosford Street, a proposed retail unit and coffee bar, based in the heart of the new FARGO development, would be staffed by a mix of adult volunteers and young service users. The shop would showcase clothing and accessories designed and produced by the fashion students at Coventry University. A selection of these products was displayed at last year’s Clothes Show at the NEC. The project received widespread media coverage in addition to a commendation for “Innovation and Partnership” from the prestigious Lord Stafford Awards committee. Recycling and sustainability will be at the heart of the operation. The coffee bar will sell a range of Fairtrade products supplied by a major Fairtrade distributor. The raw Mike Fowler (second left) and Anne Muirhead of Coventry materials for the clothing and accessory range will come University, Dr Mark Payton of Mercia Seed Fund and Lord from seizures of counterfeit garments made by the Trading Stafford, pictured at the Lord Stafford Awards ceremony. Standards officers of Coventry and Warwick which would otherwise be destroyed or sent to landfill. We believe that this social enterprise, combining environmental objectives, partnership working with the university and Trading Standards, as well as providing training and employment opportunities for young service users, is the first of its kind in the UK. 5 We make a difference… Rough Sleepers / Multiple Needs Service In the two years since Coventry City Council first contracted a dedicated rough sleepers service, we have identified and engaged with over 200 people. The majority were found during the early morning walks carried out by our staff. On average it will take four interventions to ensure a rough sleeper fully engages with our services and comes to our Norton House premises where they are given a breakfast and access to shower and laundry facilities. Once our staff have had the opportunity to talk to the client about their situation, they are usually successful in getting them to fully engage with the service. The public perception of rough sleepers is of white men, middle aged with an alcohol and/or drug addiction that is the root cause of the resulting homelessness. The reality is often different, as our case studies show. A tragic combination of circumstances can result in homelessness and trigger a downward spiral leading to a dependency on alcohol and drugs. Furthermore, the average age of our clients in 2010/11 was just 35 with an ever increasing number of men and women in their early twenties. Recognition of the urgent need to address substance misuse dependencies, often compounded by mental health issues, resulted in a new multiple needs service in partnership with Coventry City Council Social Services and Coventry PCT being established in November 2010.