Each year our Sustainable Communities Programme invests £1.4 million in initiatives which build resilience and connection for our customers and their communities. We do this through grants, volunteering and support via local community groups that enhance the lives of our customers.
Average weekly rent in General Needs and Sheltered Homes
Average weekly rent in Supported Living Homes
CQC ratings good or outstanding
Tenancy start in Homelessness
We use an Asset Based Community Development approach. This means that we believe that everyone is an asset, with skills, aspirations, and abilities and that by building relationships in communities, these become stronger and better connected.
We work flexibly to respond to changing needs in communities, our business, Government and our regulators. When we are approached for charitable funding we seek out customer and community views to make sure that community initiatives are wanted and welcome.
We work with trusted community partners (charitable groups) to draw on their knowledge and experience, building long-term connections to existing local services and support.
National customer support offers
“This support goes beyond helping people in a moment of hardship – it’s a route to building resilience. These offers help build our relationship with customers, help customers be proud of their home, give them dignity through choice, and also help to connect customers with their community.”
Our National customer support offers go beyond our role as a social landlord and have been developed to help customers in times of difficultly. These offers will give customers who need them more options. This could be helping a new tenant to get furniture carpets and curtains or helping an existing customer who is facing financial hardship.
Our local teams will work with you to review your personal circumstance and make an application on your behalf if you are eligible. Wherever possible we will signpost tenants to existing local support, helping our support to reach as many people as possible
The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust Partnership
One young person who received support through this programme said “The programme was really good, because it got all of us out of rooms in the morning and gave us something to do. It seemed to bring the whole block closer together, as we were talking and working with people that we wouldn’t normally speak to.... really helped me with my mental health. She’s really helped me to deal with my anger issues and my attitude towards other people, she’s definitely helping me to become a better person.”
We have been working in partnership with Dame Kelly Holmes Trust for the past four years helping young people in Sanctuary Supported Living schemes.
Your Own Place - Homeless - Sanctuary Supported Living schemes
One tenant said “If what we spoke about in the workshops starts to manifest for everyone in the scheme, people can really better their situations”.
After the workshops 82% of tenants thought that their voices were being heard following their participation with one tenant saying “the process was worthwhile and conducted with energy, imagination and humour. A valuable exercise”.
Mental health
We have all become more aware of the need to look after our mental health and there has been quite a bit of publicity about opportunities for men to pay more attention to their mental wellbeing.
We have supported several initiatives to support men’s mental health, one great example is a men’s breakfast club.
At the beginning the men all sat apart not talking to each other, now some firm friendships have been made that carry on after breakfast club has finished. One man living alone was having difficulty accessing his doctors and said he couldn’t come along because he had to stay at home and sit on the phone to get through. The breakfast club supported him to still come along that day and spoke to the surgery helping him to access an appointment which he hadn’t been able to previously. Their support meant he didn’t miss out on a meal and the one opportunity he has a week to meet his friends and get out of the house.
Another project focusing on young men’s mental health enabled one participant who had been affected by anxiety and depression to become a peer mentor supporting other young men with their mental health.
If you would like to find out more about how you can improve your mental health and wellbeing have a look at Mind’s website or call them on 0300 123 3393.
Cost of living
Many people have faced challenges over the past 12 months with the cost of living. We have connected many customers around the country, to access support through one of our community partners. These partners have helped our customers to reduce their debts and increase their incomes by ensuring they are receiving all the benefits that they are entitled to. In one case a single parent, whose application for Personal Independence Payments had been refused, resulting in them having to sell household belongings to get by. Together, with their advisor, they managed to resolve the issue and ended up with a back payment of over £11,000.
If you or someone you know is in financial difficulty a good place to start is www.citizensadvice.org.uk or talk to your Sanctuary Income Officer, they may be able to refer you to local sources of support.
Social isolation
Building connections between people and local groups and services is the focus of our Community Investment Strategy. We support many projects that enable people to connect with each other. These range from social or community cafés, to art and craft groups, youth groups and women’s groups. People taking part in arts and crafts sessions at a housing for older people scheme benefitted from the social side of being creative together. They reported feeling less stressed and feeling positive about the sense of achievement . One resident said “…. a lot of fun and togetherness giving us a sense of coming together as friends”. While those attending one of the social cafés say that the project isn't just one morning a week. Many say they have developed friendships that continue outside of the café that supported them through lockdown and beyond.
We might know of opportunities for you to connect in your local community, look at our interactive map to see local projects and activities.
Our Sustainable Community Fund supports community initiatives that help to build connection and resilience. We have partnerships across the country, so if a charity or community group is doing great work supporting the community where you live, encourage them to contact our Sustainable Community team on 01905 335411 or email community@sanctuary.co.uk.
Explore the report
Your Home
We recognise that this has been a challenging year for our services. Despite this, you will see there were a number of significant achievements and there are more improvements for the year ahead.
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Your Services
Our teams have been hard at work supporting and engaging with residents across the country. Together we have made a difference in dozens of communities, adding value beyond what people might expect from their landlord.
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Your Voice
We want you, our residents, to know that Sanctuary cares, because there can be no doubt – we do absolutely care about you. This is reflected in the great work our teams do every day. Engagement is at the heart of what we do.
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