Drive to secure homes for the homeless

Soaring costs of renting is making it more difficult for homeless people to secure a home of their own – now a care business is stepping in to provide a vital cash bridge. Tony McDonough reports

From left, Steve Rotheram, Mary Rasmussen and Local Solutions CEO Tom Harrison. Picture by Jason Roberts

 

An organisation that provides outsourced care services for vulnerable people in the Liverpool city region and North Wales is launching a new campaign to secure homes for homeless people.

Local Solutions, a registered charity, was launched in 1974 to support vulnerable children, adults and families. It offers support services to tackle a huge range of issues including domestic abuse, homelessness, bullying and social care.

Local Solutions employs more than 400 people and, in the last few days, have moved into a new headquarters in Wavertree in Liverpool as it looks to expand its reach. Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and Liverpool Lord Mayor Mary Rasmussen attended the official launch.

It also provides support and accommodation for young people, enabling them to develop independence while increasing the safety and security of children through BullyBusters and supporting victims of domestic abuse through counselling.

Now is launching a new campaign called Power Up to help young homeless people secure homes. With the rising costs of rents and energy the barriers to homeless people securing homes has never been higher.

Power Up will help young people with the costs of setting up and sustaining their own homes over the first three months of their tenancies. It aims to empower them to succeed in sustaining tenancies and provide support for them in their community, enabling them to be independent.

Local Solutions chief executive Tom Harrison, who was appointed into the position last year having worked with the charity for more than 15 years, said: “I’m incredibly proud to have seen Local Solutions move into a new premises that is genuinely going to change the way we work and improve the lives of those we help.

READ MORE: Local Solutions to pay Real Living Wage

“It will allow us to be more collaborative, creative, innovative and flexible – primarily to help people feel empowered and achieve their own goals.

The charity also improves the health and well-being of the elderly through its domiciliary care provision and provides independence and freedom through its Shopmobility service. In addition Local Solutions provides valuable respite to carers from across the city through its MyTime scheme.

Mayor Rotheram said: “The necessity for what Local Solutions does and its services will be in greater demand with the government we’ve got and the society they are creating, we are going to need you even more.

“If this new building helps that to happen more easily for those service users, then that’s absolutely brilliant. Local Solutions is a fantastic charity which has served our community well for nearly 50 years.”

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