The government has announced a £7.5million funding package to
help tackle loneliness over the winter period, supporting sectors
that are well known for bringing people and communities together
such as the arts, libraries, charities and radio.
With millions of people now under the new Tier 4 COVID19
restrictions due to the spread of a new variant, Communities
Secretary has thanked those who are continuing to spread
festive cheer and tackling loneliness, while urging us all to
look out for our neighbours.
Two schemes have been highlighted as going that extra mile:
Poole Housing Partnership which established a call service for
older and vulnerable residents to enjoy regular chats with
friendly volunteers.
Your Homes Newcastle was also praised for delivering homemade
Christmas meals to their older residents to spread the festive
cheer.
These are just two examples of vital work by housing associations
to tackle the social effects of Covid-19 across England since the
Government launched its ‘Charter for Social Housing Residents’
last month. These landmark reforms will improve the lives of
residents by giving them a much greater voice and more power to
hold landlords to account, and help them to establish strong
networks to combat social isolation and loneliness.
Communities Secretary Rt Hon MP said:
“None of us have never known a Christmas like this. While we may
have had smaller and quieter Christmases than normal, for some
people this Christmas will have been especially hard – and very
lonely. That’s why I’m encouraging people to find other ways to
reach out virtually and help combat loneliness – by picking up
the phone or writing a letter, for example.
“Let’s all do what we can to connect with our older neighbours –
in a Covid-secure way - so they feel less alone and know how
valuable they are to their communities at this difficult time.”
The charity Age UK estimates that there are approximately 1.4
million chronically lonely older people in England.
The Government has been working to tackle loneliness during the
pandemic. Over £24 million of the £750 million charity funding
package has gone directly towards reducing loneliness, and a
further £45 million to organisations supporting people with their
mental health.
In June the Government relaunched its long-running campaign,
Let’s Talk Loneliness. If you're lonely or looking to help
others, there is lots of helpful advice and support on the Let's
Talk Loneliness website.
The Government has also announced it will launch a new campaign
to highlight the Charter for Social Housing Residents in February
2021. The campaign will highlight what the changes will mean for
residents and how they can access support.
Further information on case studies:
Poole Housing Partnership
Poole Housing Partnership has been working to support their
residents through the pandemic.
They put in place a call service in which vulnerable residents
received regular phone calls to check in on their wellbeing and
signpost them to supporting agencies such as the council
volunteer service or onto the NHS.
One resident named Chris asked whether they could call other
people rather than just receiving a call from PHP. Other
residents agreed it was a great idea and that it would hopefully
lead to new friendships. PHP now has 25 befrienders who each call
between 5 to 10 people a week, and the numbers keep growing.
PHP has a long-standing relationship with Fareshare which
operates out of 13 PHP hubs across Poole. Run by residents for
residents, Fareshare ran a café service that had to close last
March due to social distancing requirements.
With support from PHP to source equipment, the Fareshare service
transformed itself into a food delivery service and has been
creating food parcels and meals for over 150 households each
week. PHP residents cook the food and PHP staff and other
residents deliver it to those who normally attended the café
service or to those we had been identified on the calls as in
need.
This has gone some way to tackling loneliness with residents
increasingly involved in leading or supporting the food services.
Your Homes Newcastle
Food Nation, a food charity based in Newcastle, applied to YHN’s
Community Investment Fund to deliver group cooking sessions to
help bring people together who were socially isolated so they
could spend time in company and develop new skills. The pandemic
meant that couldn’t go ahead in person, so their volunteers are
cooking meals themselves and delivering them along with a
socially distanced chat.
Additionally, one of YHN’s Board member’s children and their
classmates wanted to write cards for older people who might not
receive one otherwise. The Board member contacted YHN’s housing
manager, Helen, and her staff identified double the number of
people to the cards available.
Helen contacted her daughter’s school, and her class made cards
for the remaining half. YHN staff are going to support the older
people to write thank you letters to the children, as they don’t
often have people to write to either.
