proof of concept - qiresults proof of concept ~ final...proof of concept : being the summary of the...

Proof of Concept : being the summary of the concept made concrete by example and the active lessons of a Pilot Project.

Dr Mandy Walker December 2011

The HOPE™ Strategy 2 Dr Mandy Walker : Proof of Concept Version : January 2012


Proof of Concept ___________________________

being the summary of the concept made concrete by

example and the active lessons of a Pilot Project.

__________________

The HOPE™ Strategy is an integrated approach to addressing the multiple

challenges of homelessness, worklessness, and hopelessness at one and the same

time. It is designed to deliver; homes and jobs to homeless and vulnerable people,

economic independence to the third sector agencies that support them, savings to

public sector authorities who guard and sustain them, investment opportunities to

private sector entities who tolerate them, and by extension, value, to both local

communities and society at large, by delivering a sustainable solution through wealth

creation and a break in the cycle of benefits dependency.

In order to demonstrate the value of the strategy and prove the concept, a pilot

project is established in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire.

The initiative is led by a third sector agency headed by a courageous and visionary

leader. In turn, he is backed by leaders in local government and education who dare

to authorise doing something different. The early results are very positive, and

success becomes a compelling argument for doing more.

Financial viability to the plan going forward, rests on a mixed investment from public

and voluntary sectors. Both have much to gain from an investment pot into which the

local council commit a small number of derelict or disused houses, and the charity

commit cash reserves to pay for renovation and restoration of the same. This paper

outlines the proof of concept achieved so far, as a pre-cursor to consideration of that

further commitment.

Action Housing and Support is a small charity that has been providing services for

homeless people, escapees from domestic abuse, and ex-offenders, for 34 years.

They work specifically with ‘vulnerable people’ ; those classified by society as such

because they suffer a restriction on liberty and choice.

This charity employs 180 people, and in 2010 turnover was circa £6m. Action

Housing and Support operates across Yorkshire and the Midlands and provides


critical housing and/or support services to approximately 800 people at any one time.

In June 2011 they secured Registered Provider status with the Tenants Services

Authority. In July 2011 they secured Transition Funding and used it to engage private

sector expertise from QiResults and work out a way to break dependency on

Supporting People contract awards, reduce operating costs, increase asset wealth,

and impact the quality of personalised support services for vulnerable people, in a

sustainable way. Unless they achieve this, their Charity will fold, their services will

cease, their staff will be redundant, and society will be left to address the

consequences of the withdrawal support to vulnerable people.

Work began with the leaders of the organisation seeking to shift the internal culture

and apply Lean philosophy (not Lean methodology) . The scrutiny of self examination

delivered refreshed vision, mission and values. The workforce are clear that theirs is

a practical Charity. Action : the opposite of ‘doing nothing’. Action : so very much

louder than words. Action: because lives can’t change without it. The focus of their

mission became; working to enable vulnerable people to establish a home and live

responsibly in society.

It is within this context that the HOPE™ Strategy was conceived. Over six months

working closely with QiResults, together they devised an entrepreneurial business

model that is well worked out and intelligently applied. With the active

encouragement and commitment of the Chief Executive of Rotherham Metropolitan

Borough Council and the Principal of Rotherham College, they are piloting a scheme

that involves these public, private, and third sector organisations working together in

an integrated way to address the problems currently facing each, to mutual and

collective benefit.

Once there is greater robust proof of concept in Rotherham the intention is to roll out

a further project in Derby, again led by Action Housing and Support, but with the

clear intention to offer a scalable business model to benefit others in the third sector.

A relationship with Rolls-Royce plc is being actively developed to discover and

establish the actual and factual benefit of the HOPE™ Strategy to a private sector

investor. Interestingly, there is a link between the Borough of Rotherham and the

Derby based headquarters of Rolls-Royce which had led naturally to an extension of

learning from the pilot project to the second scheme being planned.


The basic premise of wealth creation is that Action Housing and Support are taking

delapidated, derelict and disused houses and spaces, and engaging homeless

people in the therapeutic creation of their own homes and livelihoods. An integrated

programme of education and training support activities designed specifically to

address the needs of vulnerable people underpins the whole enterprise. Support

workers who currently deliver critical key working interventions and psychological

strength are building a new approach that is practical and enabling, and challenges

the established way of delivering housing and support services. They know that,

unless they find an affordable and sustainable way to provide the critical services

they deliver, their own jobs are threatened because the Charity will close.

They have devised a Social Apprenticeship Scheme, working with Rotherham

College. The aim is to build a route that can enable vulnerable young people to

access the National Apprentice Programme. Working with a developing currency of

‘sweat equity’, they are building a token economy where young men and women

receiving job seekers allowance and housing benefit can directly benefit from their

own endeavour, and eventually create jobs for themselves. At present, in the pilot

phase, it is not possible to pay cash wages; the Charity has no money so to do, and

if they did, it would only replace rather than increase the £56 weekly income that


these young people currently receive. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that earned

income is far preferrable to benefit handout. Every time we give something for

nothing in expectation of gratitude, we potentially steal dignity from the recipient.

An important policy conversation has therefore commenced with the Centre for

Social Justice, positive supporters of The HOPE™ Strategy. Powers and

permissions need to be influenced appropriately, and that all takes time.

Nevertheless, the determination to find an access route to future prosperity for this

group remains high.

Rotherham College recently received an Ofsted visit. The senior inspector recorded;

“You have an excellent initiative with Action Housing and Support which has the

potential to be used by Ofsted as a national case study”. The research advisers of

the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions are increasingly interested and

arrangements are being made to seriously examine what is being achieved in South

Yorkshire.

The first Action Apprentice has

taken a tenancy in a house that

he and his associates made

good. They are busy doing the

same for one another. They will

make a visit to Westminster in

February 2012 where they will

sign Social Indentures in the

Houses of Parliament ; a

covenant between them, the

Charity, the College, and the

Community.

In this way, there is the potential for a little group of youngsters supported and settled

in Rotherham, classified as hard-to-reach by the education and training sector, to

become the pre-cursor to a national social apprenticeship that can engage 16 – 25

year olds in practical refurbishment, creation, and maintenance of living spaces

within their own communities and in a job creation scheme that enables them to

achieve earned income.


Genuine job creation is important as part of the HOPE™ Strategy. Vulnerable

people often have unfortunate ‘labels’ which deem them unemployable to many

discerning enterprises; “arsonist”, “recovering alcoholic”, “ex-offender”. Some of them

have also unfortunately labelled themselves; “failure”, “loser”, “inconfident”, “unable”.

In order to achieve greater economic independence and relieve dependency on

benefit payments, their best option is to be helped to create self employment

opportunities.

Action Housing and Support are therefore further making HOPE™ a reality by

establishing a series of social enterprises. Helped again by private sector expertise,

the first is a company that will make, sell, and distribute furniture that slots together. It

is an original design created with the needs of social landlords in mind and will

generate income and jobs.

The thinking stimulated in the pilot has established the Action Activist Programme,

which endeavours to identify those who wish to engage in enterprising activity and

gently build a self employed route to earned income which removes the need to gain

approval from a third party employer, and the painful process of being ‘judged’

through stressful interview. Through the Pilot Project, Action Housing and Support


are taking steps to seed a series of small social enterprises in which they will take a

stake, and employ their own Action Activists to provide services they might

traditionally outsource. Over time; additional revenue streams will help the

sustainability of the Charity, whilst lending support to potentially fragile businesses.

Action Activists have also grown and harvested a first crop of homegrown vegetables

and have plans to build an entrepreneurial venture that will create shareholding and

community business owners. The horticulture department of RCAT are keen to work

in close collaboration and build this endeavour. There are disused infill spaces

around the Borough which can be cleared by the Probation Service, utlising

Community Pay-Back squads. The spaces could then become the base for

community based businesses that offer subsidised gadening services to

homeowners and tenants in return for permit to use a portion of garden to grow

edible foliage. The produce can be sold locally at affordable rates, and delivered to

housebound tenants who may otherwise not easily access fresh produce in small

quantities.


Links with the education and training provision is a central pillar to success. One of

the joys of the pilot has been to witness the interaction between undergraduate

students working with Action on live marketing projects, and the Action Apprentices

themselves. In bright orange tee shirts, the undergraduates working as Action

Assistants sat and helped a young man who had measured the floor of the room he

was to decorate. He needed to work out how much paint was required, but was

clearly confused about the difference

between metres and litres. Help came from

his new friend, an Action Assistant, of

similar age but with an entirely different life

story. “Think ‘L’” she said. “Liquids come in

litres”. He replied; “You mean; like paint,

and milk? I see”. They then smiled about

the fact that a pint was still a pint, but wasn’t

worthy of discussion since alcohol was

never going to help get a room decorated

anyway. It was a charming exchange

between two young people each working to

shape their own futures, and helping each

other in the process.

Whilst the Rotherham Pilot Project has focused especially on the 16-25 age group,

the HOPE™ Strategy also embraces vulnerable people who are older too. The

Derby based project will focus on the needs of recovering alcoholics and ex-

offenders in the 25-40 age group. A third project, will take lessons learned from the

first two, and build meaningful engagement for older people too. The energy of what

is happening is attracting help from new volunteers from the professional community,

who are willing to lend their time and expertise to advocate on behalf of Action

Housing and Support.

Established volunteers, primarily ex-service users of Action who have given service

for decades, are also working hard to inform programme design and the appropriate

reshaping of support services. Most Third Sector providers have success stories of

which they are rightly proud. There are some remarkable individuals who have

learned to overcome the adversity they have faced, and are prepared to share their

wisdom with others. Action have established the rank of Ambassador in recognition

of the value such people bring.


These Action Ambassadors,

small in number, are men and

women in our Volunteer Corps,

who for decades have been

clean and dry and safe and

sound of whatever it was that

caused them to become

‘vulnerable’ in the first place ~

not necessarily without blemish

~ but certainly with a track

record of lessons learned. They

are ambassadorial on behalf of

the charities they support. They speak with authority about the services on offer, and

are able to speak with compassion to service users who want to take the supported

opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives.

Working alongside Action Ambassadors, it became possible to better understand the

missed opportunity presented to ex-offenders on probation. With due regard for

public protection issues, it is perhaps possible to engage differently with some

individuals. Rather than present those released from custody with a key to clean and

furnished accommodation, and the support of a key worker who will come and visit, a

different approach is being explored with the Sheffield based project team. Instead,

the team are considering an approach which suggests; “here is a key, here is a paint

brush. Your accommodation is almost ready, but the lounge still needs painting.

From these colour options, you need to choose the emulsion you prefer. Here are a

small squad of Action Apprentices who are going to help you complete the job. We’ll

be here tomorrow to get started with you. You’re not alone in this community space.

Your job is to get some fresh milk in, we’ll bring tea bags” … or something that

suggests a more practical level of support and engagement that drives both

responsibility and personal choice.

The HOPE™ Strategy drives a philosophy that challenges established thinking and

unlocks the potential within the third sector to better solve the problems of delivering

sustainable and affordable services in impressionable and sustainable ways. The

intention is to impact the need to bring empty homes back into use, increase the

number of affordable housing units available for rent, reduce the number of


vulnerable people who are workless, positively impact the Benefits Culture, and

engage communities in making sustainable order out of chaos.

All of the thinking and activity so far has been paid for primarily by the cash and

goodwill resources of Action Housing and Support. They have been supported by the

cash and goodwill resources of QiResults. Persuaded by the clear evidence of

success, and the intelligent plan behind it, RCAT and RMBC have also invested time

and expertise in building a scalable business model. Bramhall Construction have

also joined the investment pack and are a partner going forward. Currently, Action

are renovating and decorating houses that they manage but do not own, testing early

thinking, and learning how to build a sustainable model. The time has come to make

this a bigger programme of activity.

An investment appraisal document is now prepared which will enable the Elected

Members of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to consider the benefit gained

through the responsible asset transfer of empty council houses and supported

purchase of privately owned empty houses.

In Phase One, the numbers are very modest. However, a seed investment from the

local authority will trigger a cycle of wealth creation that will eventually pay for the

scheme to continue. In Phase Two, the collaborative plan is to build new housing

units on infill sites, utilising Community Payback hours, local builders, the College,

vulnerable people engaged in a social apprenticeship programme (integral to The

HOPE™ Strategy), and National Apprentices persuing construction, electrical and

plumbing programmes of training. For Phase Three, the ambition is to scale the

numbers with the help of public and private sector partners and fund a scheme to

build 1000 new homes.

Homes not houses, built in a way that provides vulnerable people with an opportunity

to learn a living. The activity will, of itself, generate pride and a sense of purpose. As

Ruskin purports; the highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but

what they become by it. The aim is that they also become employable and can

generate for themselves some earned income. The proof of concept is achieved so

far as it goes, but needs help from Elected Members if it is to move to the next level.


This is a big idea that appears to work. Financial viability to the plan going forward,

rests on a mixed investment from public and voluntary sectors. Both have much to

gain from an investment pot into which the local council commit a small number of

derelict or disused houses, and the charity commit cash reserves to pay for

renovation and restoration of the same. This paper outlines the proof of concept

achieved so far, as a pre-cursor to consideration of that further commitment.

Dr Mandy Walker December 2011

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