Through VIVID Plus, we’re investing in tenancy sustainment services, to provide people with tailored, individual support and we’re tackling community led priorities, through place shaping projects and initiatives, to help people feel proud of where they live. We plan to invest £21 million over the next 5 years.
We’re working on a variety of projects that meet with our specific areas of focus. One such example of this is our work alongside Fareham based charity, Two Saints, with an aim to increase participation in homeless reduction initiatives following the Housing First model.
Housing First is a housing and support service which provides rough sleepers with permanent accommodation and a stable home from which to rebuild their lives, as well as intensive support to avoid having to go through the hostel route. The Housing First model is evidenced to be highly effective at ending homelessness for people with multiple and complex needs.
So far with Two Saints, we’ve been successful in securing long-term accommodation and providing extensive support for 3 rough sleepers, by working closely with our local authority partners at Gosport Borough Council, Rushmoor Borough Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, with a number of other positive conversations currently underway.
In addition to our Housing First focus, we’re working with partners to invest in a local youth project in Eastleigh, to provide positive alternatives for local young people and make people feel safer in their neighbourhood. We’re also working on a peer-to-peer mentoring project alongside social enterprise, Outcome Home. This enables individuals who have recently experienced homelessness to have access to the individual support they need, from people who understand and have been in their situation, to help re-build their lives and find a path that helps them to successfully manage their tenancy.
We’re committed to making a long-term, positive difference for our customers and communities through VIVID Plus and all we do here at VIVID. To help measure the impact of our work and make sure we’re focusing our efforts in the right areas, we’re using community insight and measurement tools. This is enabling us to collect and analyse data for all our neighbourhoods to help inform where our investment is needed most.
