Accommodation and Support Services
St Basils has over 40 supported accommodation schemes of varying sizes. Although we work supporting young people in more locations, our supported accommodation schemes are based in Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Leamington Spa, Redditch, Sandwell, Solihull and Coventry. Between them, these schemes offer over 1,500 of units of accommodation to both single young homeless people and young families with small children. The majority of these units are in Birmingham, where the need is highest.
We also operate ‘ Supported Lodgings’ schemes and ‘Nightstop’ schemes with carefully vetted and matched members of the local community, to provide further accommodation options in Birmingham, Coventry, Worcestershire and Warwickshire and emergency accommodation, ensuring young people who have nowhere to sleep at night have somewhere safe to go.
Emergency accommodation
Young people will live in emergency accommodation for up to three months while their circumstances are assessed and an appropriate longer term solution is found for them. As well as designated emergency accommodation projects, we also have direct access facilities at some of our other fully supported projects.
Supported accommodation
Our longer term supported accommodation projects offer different levels of support, from fully supported accommodation projects where staff are on site 24/7, to varying degrees of semi-independent accommodation. Our aim is to ensure young people can live independently once they move on.
We also work with young single parents and those who are pregnant in our mother and baby schemes. Young people are offered a full service including a resettlement programme in order to find suitable accommodation for them and their children.
Home2Home Supported Lodgings
Home2Home aims to help people aged 16-19 who are vulnerable but low risk to make that final step to independence. We recruit ‘Hosts’ from all walks of life who have a spare room and want to make a difference by providing accommodation and support to a young person in need.
The scheme aims to recruit Hosts who can provide encouragement and guidance to enable them to develop the practical skills and confidence needed to make the leap to independent living. This means they can move on in a planned way, and helps to prevent ‘crisis’ situations.
In return, Hosts receive a weekly financial contribution and a support package which includes training and social activities with other Hosts.
Checks and a thorough matching service are carried out for both the Host and young person and both also receive ongoing support from our staff for the duration of their stay, be it a few months or a maximum of two years.
Research shows that particularly vulnerable young people are more likely to make the step to independent living successfully if they are part of the community and have local support networks, and this is what Home2Home aims to achieve. Young people living with a Host in the local community also escape much of the stigma sometimes associated with living in a supported accommodation project, or ‘hostel’.