SPARK shortlist for Chester & District Housing Trust's NEST
Chester & District Housing Trust (C&DHT) is amongst fifteen homelessness charities and social enterprises selected to compete for a £500,000 prize fund in a Dragon’s Den style pitch in May.
C&DHT is competing with, amongst others, a bicycle recycling project and a flat pack furniture workshop that provide employment to homeless people and are chosen to compete in the Spark social enterprise competition, Junior Housing Minister Iain Wright announced today.
The finalists will pitch their business ideas to a panel of leading entrepreneurs, including Nigel Kershaw, Big Issue Invest chief executive. The best organisations win a share of a £500,000 prize fund provided by Communities and Local Government, mentoring and a two-day ‘enterprise makeover’. All finalists will receive coaching to help them develop their social enterprises to help more homeless people into training, volunteering and jobs.
The announcement follows the launch in December of the £1.5 million competition which challenged the homelessness sector to go beyond standard homeless services like providing food and accommodation to offer more training and employment opportunities for homeless people.
C&DHT is seeking to launch a social enterprise initiative called NEST to work with large local employers and to teach homeless people skills in painting, decorating, basic maintenance and construction.
The Spark competition is part of a major refocusing of Government homelessness strategy, challenging hostels and charities to promote greater entrepreneurial spirit and give homeless people opportunities to develop the skills and confidence to move onto sustained independent living. Homeless services have an important role in providing food and shelter to society’s most vulnerable but should also be a springboard to jobs and opportunity.
David Wrigley, Neighbourhood Enterprise Manager for Housing Management at C&DHT said: “We are delighted to be amongst the fifteen finalists for the Spark award based on our initial submission. This in itself represents another fantastic achievement for the Trust but the work really starts now as we prepare for the ‘Dragon’s Den’ event.”
Junior Housing Minister Iain Wright said: “The Spark competition has lit a fire in the homelessness sector. The quality of applications shows there is a real appetite for change and it’s been tough to choose the best fifteen. The finalists will now start a ten month journey to develop their businesses and their examples will show how social enterprise can help end the ‘revolving door’ of persistent long term homelessness.”
Nigel Kershaw, Big Issue Invest chief executive, said: “We know we can make a difference to homeless people’s lives by investing in businesses that create financial and social opportunity. We want to champion the best 15 social enterprises to help them increase their impact and this is the first exciting step in that process.”
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Chester & District Housing Trust (C&DHT) was created in November 2000 to acquire the housing stock of Chester District Council and now owns and manages over 6,200 properties in and around Chester, employing 275 staff. The Trust’s homes fall in to six neighbourhoods – Blacon North; Blacon South; Chester City Area; The Rurals; Lache and Handbridge; Upton, Hoole, Newton and Plas Newton.
C&DHT provides a range of services to tenants and residents in Chester and surrounding areas. These include ChesterCare, a telecare alarm service for C&DHT tenants, other association tenants and private customers and the management of the specially designated Community Intervention Budget. This improves facilities and allows changes, which are felt by tenants to be vital to their community. C&DHT also manages the housing waiting list and homelessness agency service on behalf of Chester City Council.
Current projects for C&DHT include the £12million regeneration of the Treborth Road area of Chester, to include 200 new homes for rent, sale and shared ownership, as well as a village green and wildlife habitats.
For more details please visit www.cdht.net
The other fourteen Spark finalists are: Acumen Community Enterprise Development Trust in the North East, Bradford based Travelling Light, from Assisi House Project, Bikeworks from the Metropolitan Police and London Cycle Campaign, Brent Homeless User Group, Brighton Housing Trust, Gilead Foundation in Devon, Noah Enterprise in Luton, Novas Scarman Group, Plymouth Access to Housing, SHARP Trading (Leicester) Ltd. Plymouth-based Shekinah Mission, StreetShine, The Salvation Army and The Society of St James’, Jamie’s Computers. Visit www.sparkchallenge.org for more information.
The TREES Group, Big Issue Invest, Eastside Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers and property and regeneration group Places for People are working alongside Communities and Local Government to deliver Spark.www.communities.gov.uk www.thetreesgroup.org.uk www.biginvest.co.uk www.eastsideconsulting.co.uk www.pwc.com/uk www.placesforpeople.co.uk
Social enterprises are profit-making businesses set up to promote social or environmental issues which reinvest the majority of their profits for the benefit of the community. The adoption of this approach to generating income has also been proven to create employment, to broaden training and development opportunities and to build the self-esteem of people working in social enterprises.
National Statistics released today show that new cases of homelessness recorded by local authorities have fallen by 12 per cent in comparison to the same period last year to 15,240. The figures show a continued reduction in the number of households in temporary accommodation down to 79,500 – a reduction of 11 per cent compared to the same time last year and the first time they have dipped below 80,000 since 1991.
The statistical release, Statutory Homelessness: 4th Quarter 2007, England, is available from: www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/715137
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