Pilot scheme to reduce repeat homelessness
- 29 May
In a bid to tackle the increasing amount of homeless people in the UK a new scheme called Settle has been launched to help young people who are homeless gain independent living skills.
Rich Grahame and Katie Slee have created Settle following reports by Crisis that 61% of homeless young people have no experience living by themselves and struggle to manage their tenancies. The scheme is aimed at helping these young homeless people gain the skills they need to live independently, reports 24dash.
Origin Housing's Enfield Single Housing Scheme is piloting the project with ten young people.
Settle hopes to offer assistance on money, tenancy, wellbeing and community, with participants provided with bespoke welcome packs and invites to take part in one to one and group workshops.
Rich and Katie, both in their 20s, met on the innovative Year Here postgraduate programme*, with Rich undertaking a placement at Centrepoint and Katie at South London YMCA, before founding Settle in late 2014.
Rich comments, "The aim of Settle is to tackle the very real issue of repeat homelessness for young people. Once the young person has been housed in, usually temporary, accommodation, our unique 6 week mentoring programme kicks-in. We start with a meeting with the young person, to assess their concerns and aspirations about living in their new home, helping us to tailor the programme to their individual needs."
Dominic Allen, a young person who recently completed the programme and is now volunteering for us as a peer-mentor, comments, "The settle programme gives people an opportunity to discover their weaknesses and work on them."
Jon Foster, Customer Engagement Coordinator, Origin Housing, concludes, "Since the programme started in February 2015 we have seen some great results, and those on it are doing really well. Beyond the pilot, we hope to continue working with Settle both at Enfield Single Housing and across the rest of the organisation."
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