27 February 2009
SBHG launches new employment scheme
West London people living in temporary accommodation are being given a helping hand into a new job and a new home through an innovative approach by Shepherds Bush Housing Group (SBHG).
SBHG has developed ‘Into Work, Into Housing’ to help people find a job and give them priority for a permanent home.
On Tuesday 03 March, SBHG will run its first ‘Into Work, Into Housing’ open day at Hamlet Gardens, Hammersmith; home to 121 people living in temporary accommodation.
SBHG has partnered with employment experts Adecco whose staff will give advice on getting into work. At the same time SBHG staff will offer guidance on housing.
Into Work, Into Housing offers temporary accommodation tenants in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, higher priority for transfer into a permanent home if they work more than 16 hours a week.
Patrick Tobin and his wife Tatiana, with their four year old daughter, were the first SBHG temporary accommodation tenants to move into a permanent home through the scheme.
Patrick said: “Into Work, Into Housing is an innovative idea that rewards people for working and trying to better their lives. It is the best thing that has happened to us.”
He and his wife, who works at Heathrow Airport, now live in a two-bedroomed flat in Bath Road, Chiswick, after two and a half years in temporary accommodation at Hamlet Gardens and previously living in a hostel.
Seven more SBHG people tenants are already taking part in Into Working Into Housing. SBHG believes that supporting people into work and giving them priority for a permanent home has been a success.
Amanda Morrison, Director of Housing Services at SBHG, said: “A permanent home and a job give people the framework for greater stability in their lives. Offering them a helping hand to find work, and the incentive of higher priority for their own home, means we are helping our temporary accommodation tenants tread a path to greater independence and stability.”
For more details please contactHannah Stokes
Tel: 020 8996 4237
Hannah.stokes@sbhg.co.uk