Harrogate Youthbuild

Background

Harrogate Youthbuild is about changing the lives of vulnerable young people in the district through job opportunities in construction and creating homes for them to live in. Harrogate had a significant lack of affordable housing and this project was aiming to improve supply for those most in need.

The aim of this scheme is to enable transformational life changes for disaffected young people through giving them a start in the construction industry, by providing housing for them, and through this give them the personal skills and self-belief to make a success of their lives.

The project has brought together the local authority, housing associations, the local college, Construction Skills, Safer Community Partnership, National Housing Federation and a host of smaller partners.

Funding for the Harrogate Youthbuild Trust has come from Harrogate Borough Council, Accent Group, the Golden Triangle Partnership, the Harrogate and District Safer Communities Partnership, Learning and Skills Council, North Yorkshire County Council Community Fund, Harrogate College, North Yorkshire Forum for Voluntary Organisations, Leeds Federated Housing Association, Home Housing Association and Connexions
 

Project

Harrogate Youthbuild is a pioneering programme based on the standard Youthbuild model but has been adapted specifically to tackle the issue of housing vulnerable, 16-24 year olds in high demand housing areas with low levels of unemployment.

The project involves the purchase of empty properties, for the purpose of being refurbished by trainees, under the guidance of a mentor and construction supervisor. Upon completion the refurbished properties are rented out to the trainees, providing independent accommodation for this priority needs group.

Objectives

• Engage with hard to reach young people
• House at-risk young people
• Reduce and prevent long term unemployment by giving young people training in skills which are in short supply
• Increase participation in education
• Increase the number of young people entering the construction industry and supply of affordable housing in high demand areas.

Challenges

Partnership Working

• Partners all spoke different ‘languages’
• Different competing priorities and targets between the partners
• Different ways of doing things and internal bureaucracy that slowed progress down

Resources

• Securing Funding. No main stream funding and so a reliance of a lot of ‘little’ pots of money
• No Mentor
• High property prices in Harrogate
• Timing (property purchase, college timetables, funding bid rounds)

Working with young disaffected youth who are difficult to engage with and have chaotic lifestyles

Overcoming the Challenges

The number and range of partners

A lot of time was spent talking and planning. This has worked to our advantage as partners now understand more about the working environment of others in the partnerships and this has created a more flexible approach to working together and in problem solving.

Resources

Securing Funding
A lot of effort has gone into bidding and securing funding from local pots of money (e.g. Community Safety Partnership) instead of large national funding streams. This has had a positive effect in that through talking and networking we have built up a strong support network that will help sustain the programme in the future

Mentor
Individuals from partner organisations have taken on the responsibilities of the mentor role, over and above their normal day jobs. Without this commitment the scheme would not have succeeded.

High property prices
Made us look at non-traditional ways of funding affordable housing (New investment model, Golden Triangle Partnership, and special arrangements with the Housing Corporation).

Working with disaffected youth

Each part of the ‘youthbuild’ scheme has been designed to cater as much as possible for the needs of this client group, based on experience from Bradford Youthbuild but tailored to local circumstances.

The trainees attended an Outward Bound course to focus on team work and self-confidence.
Each of the trainees was initially referred to us by a support agency. Throughout the programme the support workers have been involved in helping the trainees deal with life issues that tend to crop up on a regular basis eg housing issues, substance misuse, crime.

Impact

Success Factors

Funding has been secured from a number of different sources and so we have had to meet specific performance criteria set by individual funders.

The true measure of success is what the programme has been able to do for the young people. The transformation in the trainees has been fantastic.

Quotes from some of the Trainees

‘Made me realise that I want to sort my life out’

‘I really want to get a job; I don’t want to be unemployed again’

And this from the trainee we had to dismiss:

‘…this has been the most positive impact on my life in a long time, so it has changed my life for the better. All my life I have been told I am the only one that can make a change, but without being sacked on that day I don’t think I would of ever made that change on my own’

This trainee will be re-starting with the new group of trainees.

Several of the trainees have won awards for their work, including the UK Building Awards.
 

Lessons Learned

There have been a significant number of positive and negative lessons learnt during the 2 years Harrogate Youthbuild has been operating. Many of which could not have been anticipated without some hindsight because although Youthbuild has been operating elsewhere in the region for some time, Harrogate Youthbuild is different in many ways.

Things that could have been done differently:

• That a mentor was appointed at the beginning of the scheme
• The property was purchased before the trainees started the induction
• More input from the trainees at all stages of the process – this will be done with the next group of trainees.

The lessons learned as part of the first round of the project have been taken forward and applied to further stages of the scheme.
 

Reference

Jo Kilburn at Harrogate Borough Council

Lynne Mee, Communications and Media Manager 01423 556022 or email lynne.mee@harrogate.gov.uk

Technical information is available from Alan Jenks, Head of Housing, on 01423 556849.