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A collaboration between five different organisations, from charities to grant givers, has led to the purchase and development of seven new training flats for young people at risk of homelessness.
Action for Children has worked with Maison Saint Pierre on the project, with funding and support from the Guernsey Community Foundation, Lloyds Bank Foundation and the Social Investment Fund.
More than £200,000 of funding has been gathered by this collective, and funnelled into the project, which they say will make a tangible difference to the lives of young people in Guernsey.
Aaron Davies, is the Service Manager of Action for Children in Guernsey, which looks to teach valuable life skills to in need islanders. The charity will help staff the new facility.
“The difference it makes to the service, first of all, is that it meets our demand," he explained.
“So, for example, every time we have a training flat available, we always have three, four, five young people applying for that flat. We had one a few weeks ago where we had five young people going for a training flat and all had high levels of need.
“What we really struggle with as a service is having to say to some young people, actually we can't help you at the moment. This helps us combat that.”
Pictured: This property on Victoria Road will be converted into the training flats.
The training flats provide a vital service for young adults in Guernsey at risk of homelessness.
Action for Children says they help provide the basic building blocks of skills for living independently and help give these young people a chance to get a stable footing in life.
“There's lots of things to learn, whether that's the practical skills, like learning how to use a hoover, all the emotional skills in terms of dealing with being on your own, being able to have that place where you feel safe and you can get to grips with some of your emotions, or even down to kind of looking at how you spend your time in the community, whether you go to groups and hobbies," said Mr Davies.
“There's lots of things that need to be shaped for somebody to live independently. What this gives us is a space to work with those young people really intensively over a period of about a year to get all those things in place.”
Once that year has elapsed, or whenever Action For Children feel the young adults are ready, they’ll get further help to get settled into their own private rental space, so they can fly free from the training flats. That will enable someone else to move in and begin their own journey.
Pictured: From left to right, Philippa Stahelin (Lloyds Foundation), Peter Atkinson (Maison), Aaron Davies (Action for Children), Jim Roberts (Community Foundation), and Sadie Siviter de Paucar, (Social Investment Fund).
Jim Roberts is the Chief Executive of the Guernsey Community Foundation, one of the major funders behind the project.
“The training flats are made possible thanks to Maison Saint Pierre purchasing this building and converting the top two floors, but without Action for Children, they would just be new flats, which as needed as they are, it’s the involvement of action for children and their kind of expertise turn these flats into training flats,” he said.
He said that securing these flats for young adults, the charity's have helped meet a need that was identified in a report on Guernsey's housing issues two years ago.
“It's something that we can't say very often about needs being met in full, but it is certainly based on the current demand," said Mr Roberts. "So there is, unquestionably, demand for five to seven new flats, and let's hope that demand stays static, because that means it can be met.
“It is very rare that Guernsey can say there is a pronounced need, the failure to meet that need causes great harm, but that need is now going to be met.”
The report in question was produced by Guernsey’s third sector, with the Community Foundation and Maison Saint Pierre both instrumental in publishing it.
Pictured: Peter Atkinson, Chair of Maison Saint Pierre. The charity purchased the property, and has been instrumental in the planning of the development.
Peter Atkinson is the Chair of Maison Saint Pierre - a charity which has long helped people at risk of homelessness.
“We commissioned with the Guernsey Community Foundation a report on homelessness in Guernsey, which identified a need for, amongst other other areas of need, some more training flats for young people who are coming out of care and who need the opportunity to live on their own, but with support," he explained.
“Hopefully they'll be finished by Easter or certainly by the middle of next year. We will then allow Action for Children to use them rent free.”
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