Your Own Place

Norwich

Coming on a workshop

homeless homelessness Norwich

Pre-tenancy and back to our roots

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At Your Own Place we work with people of all ages and many backgrounds. What they have in common is a risk of homelessness. This can be as simple as having been homeless before, or something much more nuanced that doesn’t have a label and isn’t perceived or counted.

If you’re familiar with Your Own Place you might think we work with young people. You can be forgiven because this is where we started out and with good reason. Youth (under 35) and eviction from the private rented sector are still the biggest determinants of homelessness. So are leaving care, being in custody, having a mental health need and if you see today’s data on private sector rents making up an average of 28% of people’s incomes, you’ll understand why it tends to be young people and those on a low income (as those groups are more likely to be in private rented homes).

At Your Own Place, we talk a lot about the dual safety nets. Those safety nets that many of us never even think about. Either you’re lucky enough to always have a bit of spare cash in the bank to bail yourself out of sticky situations and/or you have a family member who can always help, including when you get divorced and need somewhere to stay. Having someone at the end of the phone with support, a hug, their own experiences of going through life’s hardships and coming out the other side or just lending you a tenner for electricity is not to be underestimated in the extent to which this can prop people up when things get tough.

For people who are in supported accommodation, leaving care, leaving custody or even leaving the army, these are rocky times to navigate and now hugely expensive. Without the knowledge, confidence, skill and resilience to navigate your money and housing options, thing can go wrong quickly and badly.

So we’re chuffed to bits that our award-winning Pre-tenancy workshops continue to reach people without a safety net, without the support many of us take for granted and provides invaluable knowledge and confidence to people as they get their home – to keep their home.

PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT 

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Long term partners are the best partners. 

Which is why we’re thrilled to announce a third year of partnership with Saffron Housing Trust. 

Operating out of Diss and Harleston foodbanks, our latest support offer sees us taking our award-winning workshops into local communities. By working in foodbanks we can reach people who most need our help. We will create vital non-judgemental spaces for restorative workshops and coaching conversations focussing on:

– budgeting and saving

– managing and understanding debt

– benefit and cost of living support 

– understanding and saving on bills

All delivered in a way that enables people to recognise their own strengths, develop and share new ones as well as make the most of the support available to them. 

The highly skilled facilitator team at Your Own Place will touch on anything from the filling in of forms, applications for support, signposting for more specialist support and all the money-related queries that are worrying so many people and putting their homes at risk. 

I am proud that we can continue to support people where they are and thanks to the support of Saffron Housing Trust, at this vital time during the Cost of Living Crisis. 

Repeat or new customers

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As we approach our fifth birthday, move away from being a start-up and into an unknown phase, my attention has been turned to the notion of repeat customers.

In truth, from a public sector background, I find myself developing a lot of notions that I’ve never had to consider before. But that’s probably for another blog.

To what extent should be put our energy and limited budget into new customers? If we are to sustain and even grow (let along achieve our social mission) there’s no doubt we need more customers.

So in fact there are three options. Exactly the same customers again, new customers in the same sector and totally new customers in new sectors.

With over 90% of our customers buying again we’re doing something really right. It’s time not only to understand what that is, but to refine the messaging for new customers.

We’re not selling coffee after all. We’re selling a highly complex service that is utterly unique in its aims and delivery. The time this takes to communicate effectively is a threat to developing new customers.

Perhaps we should utilise the happy existing customers as leverage in reaching new customers and ensure the new customers become repeat customers too.

Happy birthday to us and all the new challenges our sixth birthday brings.

These horrors take me back…

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Even as I sit here writing this there is a guy outside the cafe tapping his watch, falling over and seemingly very unwell. I’m not easily unnerved, but he makes me nervous.

Less than five minutes ago a man without a shirt on, apparently with his belongings in sacks perched on his wheelchair, pushed the chair backwards slowly up Lower Goat Lane.

I am watching another man with a hospital bracelet beg from a couple seated outside.

All this right here in our fine city. How bad do things have to get before a critical mass actually cares?

I realise it takes me back. Arriving in Kiev 20 years ago I was shocked to be confronted by begging amputees. As cannon fodder for the war in Afghanistan, Ukrainian society, systems and infrastructure simply wasn’t able or compassionate enough to provide these demobbed soldiers with an adequate life.

So well done us – we’re akin to Ukraine circa 1998!