Housing Accommodation Support
Northamptonshire YMCA provides accommodation or floating support based services for over 100 young people in the county. At any one time there will be another 40 on our waiting lists and we receive enquiries for housing or associated support for another 30 each week.
Faced with severe funding cuts from April 2007, the Association took the opportunity to restructure the way in which support was delivered. Coupled with a general improvement in our housing stock over recent years and the disposal of inappropriate accommodation the YMCA has achieved a greater investment in the quality of the accommodation, improvement of resident need and increased opportunity for service user involvement.
Suite of Support Services
Northamptonshire YMCA has developed a suite of housing support services to meet the needs of anyone seeking our support.
- First contact for the more vulnerable residents at St John's Northampton and St Jude's Kettering.
- Accommodation with on-site training for those with lower support needs at Derngate House.
- Trainer flats at Derngate House and St Jude's for those ready to move on.
- Shared houses for those able to look after themselves but still needing some ongoing support.
- Floating support for those who have their own accommodation but are in need of support.
Keyworking - the key to success
Each resident supported by the YMCA has a dedicated worker to help them identify thier needs and to guide and encourage them in their growth and development. Sometimes the support that a person needs is to have a safe place and the encouragement to recover from a bad experience. Only too often the needs are mroe complex, and may require the support of other agencies. Some of the residetsn seeking accomodation have multiple needs. The keyworker will help the residents to engage with the support and encourage them to maintain this support for as long as needed.
To help in needs assessments, the YMCA has adopted the 'Star' as developed by St Mungo's Housing Association. The needs are discussed between resident and support worker and the results plotted on a graph, providing a clear method of demonstrating the progress that has been made to date by the resident and a tool to assess future actions for development.
Needs are assessed in 8 areas:
- Accommodation
- Living skills
- Managing mental health
- Managing physical health
- Meaningful use of time
- Personal responsibility
- Social networks
- Substance use
This measurement of distance travelled has been endorsed by Supporting People. After using this for the first time one support worker said, "I learn't more about the young person in two hours than in the last four months".
Future Developments
The YMCA is seeking to extend the levels of support provided to young people by:
- Increasing the amount of accommodation provided for residents to move into through the acquisition of its own properties.
- Extending the amount of floating support and housing management provided to other associations or local authorities.
The YMCA supports over 100 young people in accommodation at any one time. The average length of stay in our accommodation is 28 weeks and on average over 60 residents move on with the support of the YMCA each year.
Last updated on 17/06/08 by Phil Sorrell
