In conjunction with actively signposting family tenants to the various school Easter holiday activities for 2023 been promoted by the Birmingham City Council ‘Bring It Brum’ Programme, two of the Birmingham supported accommodation properties with family tenants decided to organise a one-off citizenship themed craft session with children and their parents during the mentioned school holiday.
These properties are individually managed by Saif Social & Health Care Homes Ltd and Step Next Ltd inconjunction with National Community Homes CIC.
The aim of the two separated craft sessions was to encourage the children to creatively express their personal thoughts and perception of their ‘Dream Homes’, and whether they viewed living in temporary supported accommodation as a safe family home for them.
The sessions were linked to the ’Starts at Home’ initiative which is a national UK annual awareness campaign which normally occurred in September of each year, to celebrate supported housing provision and the positive impact it makes on thousands of lives, in ensuring that people living in such accommodation provision who need extra support will always have a safe home that meets their needs. Soulmaz Maosavi, one of our family support workers, and her colleague recently delivered one of the creative artwork sessions at their supported accommodation site.
They encouraged family tenants to initially decorate two cardboard Wendy houses, and then individually designed their ‘Dream Homes’ by drawing images of their choice of furniture, fittings and personal belongings using an illustration outline of a typical family house with empty
rooms. All participants of the session were given recognition certificates, which the children can show their teachers once they are back at school. The other support workers from the other family accommodation property managed by National Community Homes CIC will be encouraging their family tenants, via the other artwork session to be delivered in the future, to design their ‘Dream Homes’ and write personal statements of what a ‘Home’ means to them.
The aim is to ensure that both the children and their parents both enjoyed and benefit from the artwork sessions, as another proactive example of how Saif Social & Health Care Homes Ltd and Step Next Ltd are providing extra parental support in ensuring the creation of a safe and homely environment for their family tenants currently living in supported temporary accommodation who experienced homelessness as a result of various challenges including domestic abuse, family breakup and abandonment, substance misuse, immigration issues, etc. The two craft sessions also helped to reinforce parents’ own personal efforts in providing a homely environment for their children, despite the mentioned life circumstances which resulted in them currently living in supported accommodation, where our tenants have minimal personal belongings, in receipt of welfare benefits and experiencing the rising financial pressures of the current cost-of-living situation, and finally are struggling to find long-term accommodation from the limited local authority social
housing provision.
The following statement is from Soulmaz after the delivery of her own successful engagement session with her group of
family tenants:- “The delivered activity is part of our ongoing efforts in making sure that our family tenants feel that they are living
a safe and homely environment, despite the negative stigma and perceptions of individuals living in temporary supported accommodation. Such organised activities also further encourage solidarity and supportive friendships among our family tenants. This provides valuable life skills awareness among our tenants’ school children. I am sure that the local primary schools where the children go to, would be also impressed with the children’s participation and resulting artwork in the citizenship themed session today”.
Saif Social & Health Care Ltd and National Community Homes CIC, alongside Midlands Living CIC’s own noted tenancy engagement activities, will continue to explore additional activities and resources to help their family tenants over the coming months, alongside their identified individually support plans with their allocated support workers.
