When It Comes to Housing, Young People Deserve More Choice

End Youth Homelessness Cymru Partners Llamau and United Welsh have come together to develop a new model for youth housing, with support from a Welsh Government Innovation Grant. Amanda Oliver, Project Manager for the Youth Housing Choices Project brings us up to date on the projects’ progress.

24th September 2020

The 15th of September 2020 marked a new phase in the Youth Housing Choices Project; having recruited over the summer we were able to publically announce our new Project Board, who will be crucial to helping shape the strategic direction and vision of the project, providing the project team with external oversight in the decision-making process.

It’s a bit of a tired saying, but it’s been “a journey” since the project commenced in mid-February. We lived through storms Dennis and Jorge, then came tales from China and then mainland Europe of COVID-19, and before you knew it three weeks after starting this role, we were in full lockdown and I was working from home. There were questions about how the project would now proceed, and all of the plans shaped in the pre-coronavirus early days of the project for expansive consultation changed and are now sitting on a shelf.

So, lets bring you up to speed with what’s been happening, from the new normal of working from the kitchen table.

·         We’ve continued to refine and define what the model looks like –taking inspiration from the best of current practice and learning from international colleagues in Finland (NAL) and Australia (My Foundations)

·         We’ve developed lots of resources to ensure good governance of the project – including scoping for the Project Board – and how young people will remain at the heart of the decision-making process.

·         We’ve undertaken two rounds of consultation with young people from Llamau and EYHC partners, on facilities and amenities needed for a good quality home and environment.

·         We’ve leaned into what’s happening in the world of housing and support delivery – ensuring project sustainability and resilience in the future, putting a digital and cooperative infrastructure in place to support a new normal of service delivery.

Over the summer months, we’ll be holding our first Project Board meeting – assisting the project team to steer the direction of the project, for when we go live in the autumn. We’ll also be spending the summer months looking at properties which we can transfer into the project – looking at rent modelling to ensure that they’re truly affordable for young people who are in education, training and employment – as well as safeguarding the financial sustainability and viability of the model.

It’s been a weird time to be working on a new project, but also a positive experience in having the time to be able to think differently about how housing can be delivered for young people in Wales. They deserve it.