Scotland Housing Awards 2024
Read all the shortlisted entries into this award category, the Marion Gibbs award for equality in housing, at the Scotland Housing Awards (SHA) 2024 and find out who won the award on the night.
This award recognises projects, initiatives and organisations working to promote equality, diversity and inclusion and address housing disadvantage. This includes those supporting people with specific protected characteristics or redressing specific inequality.
Winning project name
Bield Equality Network
Winning organisation
Bield Housing and Care
Statement of support
Bield Housing and Care is a housing association specialising in housing for older people. Bield manage around 5,400 homes across 150 developments in 21 local authority areas in Scotland. Tenants are primarily older adults over 65, though age range spans from 50 to over 100.
Established in 1971 in response to unmet housing needs for older people in Scotland, Bield's mission remains to enable more people to live their best lives at home, surrounded by a supportive community.
In 2022, Bield established the Bield Equality Network, a group of tenants and officers dedicated to enhancing awareness and understanding of the needs of individuals with protected characteristics and improving the services provided to them, and is still operating within Bield. This initiative was born out of the commitment to inclusivity and a comprehensive review of tenant engagement and participation strategies; this revealed a gap in understanding and promoting the needs and aspirations of tenants across various protected characteristics groups, and it remains an important group within Bield to promote and celebrate inclusion and diversity.
The Bield Equality Network's primary objectives are to promote and celebrate the diversity of tenants, especially those from minority groups, and to ensure their needs and experiences are acknowledged and addressed. The network is driven by the interests and concerns of its members, working collaboratively to identify necessary changes and develop campaigns that foster equality and diversity throughout the organisation.
To accommodate the geographical spread of developments and adhere to pandemic restrictions in place at the time, Bield opted for a virtual setup for the network. This format enabled Bield to engage tenants from various locations effectively and ensure broad representation. The network has since become an integral part of the tenant engagement strategy, significantly contributing to the creation of welcoming and supportive environments across all developments.
The commitment of the Bield Equality Network to inclusivity is reflected in their ongoing efforts to engage with the community. The Bield Equality Network exemplifies Bield's dedication to creating a supportive and inclusive community for all tenants. Their innovative initiatives and ongoing efforts to promote equality and diversity make them an important part of Bield and a great contributor to ensuring Bield places tenants at the heart of everything we do.
Outcomes and achievements
The network's initiatives have led to significant, measurable outcomes:
Older People Rainbow Network
This network was set up to help LGBT+ tenants connect, recognising that while each development may have few LGBT+ tenants, across Bield there is a small, but significant number. Acknowledging the isolation that can come from being part of a minority group in sheltered or retirement housing, the network meets virtually to accommodate wide geographies. Membership is available to older people across Scotland, not just Bield tenants.
Resources
The group identified a need to demystify LGBT+ terms to foster better relationships. They developed a resource on LGBT+ terminology to raise awareness among staff, creating a more knowledgeable and supportive environment.
Research on non-native English speakers
In collaboration with Happy to Translate, Bield co-funded research on the experiences of non-native English speakers accessing telephone services during the pandemic. This research, which is openly available, established current practices and provided recommendations for improvements, and informed the establishment of Bield's customer contact centre in April 2024.
Inclusive policies and literature
Bield's allocation policy now explicitly addresses the needs of diverse groups, ensuring fair access to housing. Updated, inclusive literature has resulted in positive feedback and increased engagement from underrepresented groups.
Shortlisted entries
Wheatley Homes South - Young persons project
Application entry
- Project name: Young persons project
- Lead organisation: Wheatley Homes South
- Partner organisation: Wheatley Care
Statement of support
Wheatley Homes South Young Persons Project commenced in April 2011 with the overall aim of providing young care leavers with a good standard of temporary accommodation in an environment where they feel safe and secure, to support their transition from leaving care to their permanent home.
The project consists of 10 semi-detached properties in Dumfries, owned by Wheatley Homes South, with staff based on site. This project is externally managed by Wheatley Care, who are the care subsidiary of Wheatley Group. Young people typically remain in the service for around two years before moving on.
Key elements of support include all aspects of managing and maintaining a home; benefits and budgeting; training and employment opportunities; promoting good physical and mental health; harm reduction; accessing specialist services and meaningful activity.
Over the past year the service has been providing support for four asylum seekers who have come to the UK on their own. This was a new experience for the staff team, and they were committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for these individuals, understanding the legalities and process around those seeking asylum.
The staff team spent time researching and cascading the information and training to the wider team, in order to ensure effective service delivery. The team learned where they were from, their cultures, and took time to understand the trauma that some of them faced in their journey in seek a safe and secure living environment. The team developed a strong working relationship with The Scottish Guardians, based in Glasgow to access information and resources. They also accessed training through Solace, who provide specialist training to providers supporting individuals seeking asylum. This allowed the team to better understand the best ways of supporting mental health and wellbeing.
The team has worked hard to ensure they provide support effectively, while helping the individuals to feel part of the community here. This has been vital in supporting them to foster ambition and trust in moving forward with their lives.
Events have been held to celebrate and share their cultures, including Eid celebrations and an event to mark World Refugee Week. This event brought together the young people supported by the service, for an afternoon of food, cooked up by the young asylum seekers and their friends, as well as games and discussion. They were joined by other refugees supported locally by Dumfries and Galloway Council as well as staff from the council, Wheatley Homes South and Youth Scotland. Attendees mingled and enjoyed a delicious barbeque featuring a variety of cuisines from around the world, reflecting the diverse heritage of the young people who now call Dumfries their home.
Outcomes and achievements
A young asylum seeker has told us about the impact of the service:
“It took me 11 months to reach Calais where I stepped in a small boat with 70 people. I had made it across nine countries being beaten, starved, kept in locked rooms, escaping the traffickers, sleeping under bridges and more.
“The crossing from France to England was one of the scariest things I have ever done. Sometimes I didn’t think we would make it to land but we were blessed and we landed in Dover at daybreak. I was picked up by Border Patrol and processed. I left there and tried to make it to Ireland and again I was picked up at Cairnryan Port. I was brought to Dumfries. I had no idea where this place was but it seemed to be okay, so I stayed here.
“I no longer hear bomb blasts, I don’t hear the guns go off, people do not kill each other. I have lots of support from everyone here and I’ve made friends. I have been to school; I am learning English. I have been supported in everything I do and want to do. I feel safe. I am safe.”
South Lanarkshire Council - Supporting Care Experienced Young People
Application entry
- Project name: Supporting Care Experienced Young People
- Lead organisation: South Lanarkshire Council
Statement of support
Despite the extensive existing network of statutory support services, there were no specific youth housing support services for young people within South Lanarkshire. It is well documented that care experienced young people have a disproportionately higher connection with statutory homelessness services than the wider population of young people nationally, with care leavers frequently finding themselves without a practical social support system as they navigate the shift from a care environment to establishing themselves as adults in society.
Care experienced young people in South Lanarkshire tell us that the experience of transition can leave them feeling isolated in the absence of the traditional safety net provided by family and friends, and that their needs and challenges extend beyond their transition to adult services.
To help design an innovative approach to addressing these challenges, South Lanarkshire Council’s housing services worked alongside colleagues in education, employability and health and social care, The Promise Team, as well as Barnardo’s. Care experienced young people were also involved through the Champions Board, which supports young people to work alongside those who make decisions about the care system to ensure that services are tailored and responsive to their needs.
Two main areas of improvement were identified were, a review of the Joint Protocol on Accommodation Options for Throughcare and Aftercare Young People and the development of a specialist pilot service to address the disadvantage experienced by care experienced young people moving into their own home for the first time.
The Joint Protocol between housing and social work was reviewed, with the revised version becoming operational in December 2023. Based on feedback from care experienced young people and young people affected by homelessness, the updated protocol provides opportunity for people to be involved in decision making from the outset in relation to their housing options, tenancy offer, interior decor, and ‘soft start’ to moving in.
With the aim of addressing the disadvantage experienced by care experienced young people, the South Lanarkshire Futures service was established as a partnership between South Lanarkshire Council (housing, education, employability and health and social care) and Barnardo’s as an intensive wraparound transition support service for young people aged 16-25 who are in care and who require an alternative housing solution from what is currently available to them.
It enables care experienced young people to access an opportunity to live independently within a transition flat while receiving wraparound support that aims to develop independent living skills that will help them sustain their own settled homes in the future.
Key elements of the service include:
- A multi-agency steering group involving all partners which oversees governance, referrals to the service, and provides holistic oversight of the young people to ensure they receive all the support they require
- A six-to-eight-week comprehensive assessment period, delivered by Barnardo’s to build positive relationships and design a tailored programme of support to address the barriers the young person faces and begin the transition to a settled tenancy
- A single point of contact and ongoing support for as long as is needed, provided by Barnardo’s, to ensure ‘stickability’ and the building of positive relationships.
- A dedicated throughcare housing officer to provide Housing Options advice and assistance
- Transition flats to provide a safe homely space for young people to develop essential life skills for independent living
- Additional support provided by South Lanarkshire Council including programmes to develop independent life skills, confidence and resilience building, money management, housekeeping, employability and education, and assistance with referrals for drug and alcohol services.
Outcomes and achievements
Key outcomes and achievements so far include:
- 100 per cent of throughcare applicants now have a Housing Pathway Plan in place, enabling them to make informed choices and decisions about their future housing
- Four fully decorated and furnished flats are now available for care experienced young people to build independent living skills before moving into their own settled tenancy
- The first four care experience young people moved into their transition flats at the end of July 2024.
The South Lanarkshire Council Champs, care experienced young people working with the local authority to make South Lanarkshire a better place, continue to be influential in helping shape developments and are a key partner in the delivery of the project. To date, they have been central to designing successful elements including programmes of support, activities and training opportunities, as well as the decoration and furnishing of the transitional flats.
