Press and Media
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Press Related enquiries
Contact Joe McLoughlin on 07939 825 164 or e-mail joe.mcloughlin@home-connections.co.uk
Links to online articles featuring Home Connections
Read HECS Cited as best practice (Worklessness Costs Audit for London 2010)
Read “Housing Employment Connections” (Harrogate CIH Conference Report 2009)
Read “A Job well done” (Inside Housing 12 December 2008)
Read “Second life: Clicks and Mortar” (Daily Telegraph 20 October 2007)
Read “Choice can build community bridges” by Emily Twinch (Inside Housing 1 December 2006)
Read “Accessible Housing Contract Awarded” (Inside Housing 7 April 2006)
Read “Capital’s landlords to form choice-based lettings firm” (Inside Housing 14 January 2005)
Press Releases
March 2010 – Signposting is part of the solution to London’s £5 billion a year cost of worklessness
Home Connections has highlighted that signposting unemployed people at a time when they are motivated into taking action can help break down the barriers to work.
Ninesh Muthiah, Chief Executive of Home Connections commented on the launch of a report, commissioned by London Councils, ‘Counting the cost – a Worklessness Costs Audit for London’ he said: “People who are out of work are often looking for housing but don’t know what resources are out there to help them find employment. So signposting employment and training opportunities when people are looking at housing options can make a real difference. It also helps people start getting used to the idea of looking for work which is important when someone has been out of work for a long time.”
The report also found that worklessness in London costs more than £5 billion a year and highlights that national employment programmes in London are underperforming and raising the question as to whether boroughs are in a better position to deliver tailored employment services to their communities.
Muthiah continued: “Some London boroughs are already taking steps to deliver joined up housing and employment services through the use of the Housing Employment Connections Service (HECS). The latest HECS stats show that London boroughs have already helped signpost nearly 4000 people towards employment and training opportunities.”
As reported on 24dash.com, London Councils’ executive member for economic development, Stuart Fraser said: “National employment programmes are less effective in London than elsewhere in the country. This is a serious issue when you consider that almost a third of the working age population are unemployed and the costs of worklessness are so high in London
“Boroughs are already in contact with people who are out of work, and given more opportunity from Whitehall, councils can provide unemployed people with a whole package of support which is individually tailored to their training, childcare and housing or health issues.
“People who are not in work often face more than one obstacle which must be overcome before they can move into work. It is the boroughs that are best placed to deliver this personalised service.”
To read the full article on 24dash.com click here:
To read the report in full click here:
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/WorklessnessAuditLondonCouncilsFinal%20(2).pdf
Newsletter article: Budget - First time buyer and training incentives welcomed but what about renters who need skills and work?
Ninesh Muthiah, chief executive of Home Connections – the social enterprise at the forefront of joining up services in housing, employment and training said: ‘The measures to help people get on the house buying ladder and those designed to ease unemployment are to be welcomed. But many millions of people rely on rented accommodation and are often caught in a trap where a lack of skills reduces their employability and that leads to an inability to access stable housing which in turn places their employment at risk. It’s a cruel and vicious circle which doesn’t just cause misery but keeps many hard working people out of the labourforce and without a stable home.
We know from nearly a year’s experience of people accessing the Housing Employment Connections Service, that of just under 4000 people looking for rented housing from a local authority or housing association, around 1600 wanted help with jobs and training. While this service is expanding across the country we need to gain speed in providing joined-up services as in London alone we know that worklessness costs more than £5 billion a year1
Forward looking local authorities and housing associations have long embraced joined-up services and they know the benefits to end users as well as local economies. With more housing providers doing likewise across the country there can be real progress in national worklessness numbers. High priority must be given to supporting and incentivising these schemes that are proven to work.’
1
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/London%20Councils/WorklessnessAuditLondonCouncilsFinal%20(2).pdf
Newsletter article: HECs showcases at North London Strategic Alliance and the North London Housing Sub-region event
Home Connections’ flagship product HECS was showcased as part of a key workshop at the NLSA Housing and Employment event held on 26th March. The event highlights where future opportunities lie and how social housing tenants can be linked to emerging job opportunities – a key deliverable of HECS.
Since the Hills Report published in 2007, RSL’s, ALMO’s and Local Authority employment partnerships have been working together to improve the links between social housing tenants and employment and skills programmes. Research commissioned by North London Housing Sub-region highlighted employment as a major concern for residents. However to incorporate the worklessness agenda more fully into the offer to their tenants RSL’s have had to consider how employment and skills advice can be provided as part of their mainstream services and how they work with key partners. The challenge has been that very little additional core funding has been made available and there is a need to align with the complex range of services on offer from a range of partners.
The event aimed to answerd questions such as: What are the emerging Job Centre Plus JCP programmes and how will the new Personalised Employment Plans to be piloted in North London link with local delivery frameworks?
Newsletter article: Three stars for Home Connections!
The London Borough of Greenwich went live last month with a brand new Housing Employment Connections (HECS) system provided by HomeConnections.
Home Connections is also pleased to announce that Bracknell Forest Council and Southern Housing Group have each appointed Home Connections to help deliver their worklessness solutions via the HECS service. Both systems will go live in the next few months. HECs provides an easy to use portal that helps people to access housing, training and employment opportunities in one seamless experience.
Newsletter article: Leaner services to generate savings
More than 75 top-tier local authorities, government departments and housing associations have benefited from our lean approach to service delivery over the past five years. Now you can tap into this expertise to generate savings for your department.
By following a lean ‘just in time’ approach to lettings, Home Connections has delivered savings of over half a million pounds over a 5-year period to many Local Authorities across the country. To achieve this our ‘Lean CBL’ project managers have focussed on more efficient lettings cycles and have introduced completely paperless advertising.
Our focus is now on generating additional efficiency savings through implementing greater self-service (such as online registration), automating private landlord/lettings processes and creating the delivery vehicles for Total Place solutions. We can provide a CBL ‘Diagnostic Health Check’ to identify areas for making savings. Contact our Lean CBL project management team on 020 7281 8188.
Our team of highly skilled project management practitioners – are qualified in Prince2 and experienced in local authority and housing association service delivery.
If you have a need for temporary project management resources but do not have staff available or with appropriate skills and experience Home Connections can provide the project management resources you need. All with the reassurance that you are dealing with a trusted supplier with an unrivalled reputation for project delivery across the housing sector. Contact Joe McLoughlin on 020 7281 8188 now for an initial discussion.
Newsletter article: London Housing Strategy cites Home Connections as best practice
Home Connections has been lauded for its best practice in Mayor Boris Johnson’s London Housing Strategy released at the end of February 2010. Download a copy of the report here:
Newsletter article: CASE STUDY
The London Borough of Islington has 13,000 housing applicants on its housing list and since November 2008 all have had access to the Housing Employment Connections (HECS) service – a unique facility that signposts any social housing tenant or user of a Local Authority’s Choice Based Lettings (CBL) system to training and employment providers. Since its inception HECS has signposted over 700 people in LB Islington to help get them into work or training.
Home Connections forges job links for Choice Based Lettings
Home Connections has been commissioned by the Greater London Authority to run an innovative project to develop the linkages between choice based lettings (CBL) with employment opportunities and services. The project is called the Housing Employment Connections project (HECs) and it will run for 8 months and is supported by several local authorities, housing associations and specialist employment providers across London.
The project will seek to introduce and integrate employment information and services to existing and potential social tenants when they bid (apply) for properties in London.
“Home Connections is excited about forging links between CBL and jobs. We want to transform the culture of housing lettings services from one of dependency to empowerment” said Chief Executive of Home Connections Ninesh Muthiah.“We’re looking forward to working with our partners on this project to create a new dynamic between employment services and CBL opportunities” he adds.
The practice and functionality developed in this project may be incorporated into existing CBL schemes and any future pan London choice based lettings and mobility scheme. Cambridge University will be involved in monitoring and evaluating the outcomes from the project.
London has the highest proportion of adults in England outside the formal labour market. Within the capital there is a growing link between worklessness and housing tenure: almost two thirds of all workless households in London now occupy social rented accommodation. Just over 50 per cent of all social renting working age households are not in work, compared with 19 per cent of private renters and seven per cent of owner-occupiers.
Home Connections awarded Capital Moves Phase 1
Home Connections awarded contract to develop pilot Accessible Housing Register for London
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has awarded a contract to develop the first phase of the London Accessible Housing Register (AHR). The Register will form a key part of Capital Moves – the scheme to deliver pan-London choice based lettings and mobility – giving Londoners with disabilities better information on accessible housing in the Capital. Details will be announced tomorrow at the Mayor’s annual Disability Capital Conference at the Novotel Hotel in Hammersmith.Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said`As part of the Capital Moves partnership I am committed to increasing opportunities for Londoners to make choices about where they want to live. The Register will deliver the aims of my London Plan and the London Housing Strategy to ensure that these choices are as real for disabled people as other groups. `Disabled home seekers in London can look forward to being far better informed about their choices and to a more consistent approach to accessing housing in the Capital.‘Trish Pashley, Chief Executive of Greater London Action on Disability, said `There is a desperate shortage of accessible housing in London and we receive a regular stream of phone calls from disabled people living in unsuitable homes. We are delighted that the London Accessible Housing Register has now been commissioned. There is still a long way to go to make sure that disabled people get the same housing choices as non-disabled people but we hope that this project will be a catalyst for a culture change amongst housing providers in London.’
The winning bid to develop the AHR is led by Home Connections, with a team of experts in choice based lettings and mobility, AHRs and the social model of disability.
Home Connections wins Top European Award
Read “Home Connections wins Top European Award”. Home Connections won the European Telecities Award for “re-engineering local authority services”. Home Connections was the holder of this prestigious award until October 2004. Also read the Deloitte press release “e-Citizenship for all” that discusses the award and the context in more detail.
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