Transcript Document
“Green Light” Jane Greenoak Senior Adviser Funding and Partnerships National Housing Federation 19th November 2012 “Green Light” • A Partnership between: The National Housing Federation, Groundwork UK, Aspire Foundation. • A One Year Project.......as yet. Objectives • To identify the range and scope of sustainable social enterprise development by Housing Associations, Groundwork Trusts and others. • To identify sustainable employment opportunities for young people, residents and others in the community, through social enterprise. Continued • To identify the commitment to procuring from social enterprise by Housing Associations. • To spot the opportunity for ‘new jobs’ and in particular Green Deal new jobs, within social enterprise. How did the project come about? • In response to the frustration experienced with the Work Programme, and the recognition that there is a shortage of employment opportunities, particularly for housing association residents and young people. Preliminary Findings (Approx 100 responses to date) • 92% of respondents so far are interested in social enterprise to create jobs for tenants, but over 40% want to save money and another 20% want to generate income. • 70% have community projects with the potential to become social enterprises but 65% have not yet set up any form of social enterprise. There seems to be a lot of potential for supporting the transition of appropriate projects into social enterprises. Continued • 35% have a preferred suppliers list that includes social enterprises, 65% don’t. Only 20% have already included any other measures to encourage social enterprises to participate in the supply chain. • Four housing associations so far have established 5 or more social enterprises, and in, total, the social enterprises from 72 respondents are employing 1500 people. 44% of respondents have been unable to access any external support to set up a new social enterprise and the three main barriers to establishing a new social enterprise are listed as: • • • Staff time Lack of sustainable business model Lack of in-house expertise The most requested type of help was: • • • Sharing best practice Specific social enterprise consultancy / business support Money for staff time / start-up capital Examples • Great Places Housing Group, Manchester They have: Tiny Tots, Northmoor Laundry, Shamwari Project, Community Interpreters, StEP. • Poplar HARCA, London They have: Newmill Consultancy, Matchbox Nursery, Leaders in Community and a number of others through their work with the Bromley by Bow Centre. Continued • Shepherds Bush Housing Group, London They have: Staying First (this contains a number of separate enterprises eg Furnish, a reuse enterprise; a Painting and Decorating enterprise; a Debt and advice enterprise) They have also established Academy4Housing with three other HAs as a social enterprise offering training and apprenticeships. • Aster Group, Devizes They have: Twice as nice (Furniture re-use) and a wide range of care related services (Technically all Aster subsidiary companies are social enterprises) What we did next • Brought respondents together. • Asked them to identify priorities. • Engaged with the broader social enterprise community to inform future developments. Conclusions • Social Enterprise is one of a number of responses to providing employment opportunities. • There is considerable enthusiasm and support within the Housing Association sector. • We would like to work with Housing Associations and the broader social enterprise community, to support members to do more.