Think about the Isle of Wight and you might imagine picturesque seaside towns, sunny beaches and childhood trips to Blackgang Chine or Dinosaur Isle.
With 28 miles of outstanding natural coastline only two hours from London, the Isle of Wight is both a perfect holiday destination and a sought-after retirement location. However, demand for holiday cottages and retirement homes has presented Isle of Wight Council (IWC) with a challenge which may come as a surprise to many - a severe shortage of affordable homes leading to a growing homelessness crisis.
This issue formed the basis of the fourth leg of the 2019 LG Challenge, delivered by the assistant director of regeneration and former LG Challenge finalists Reniera O'Donnell and housing needs and homelessness manager Jamie Brenchley. The challenge was: How can IWC increase access to temporary accommodation for its residents in need and deliver a pathway from homelessness to housing?
The task was to create a plan that could be implemented as part of IWC's new homelessness strategy, and devise innovative ways to help the council deliver its vision of becoming an inspiring place to grow up, live, work and visit.
After a smooth Solent crossing, the weather turned uncharacteristically thundery in the Island's county town, Newport, as the contestants began brainstorming their ideas, with Bob Allen (Wigan Council) at the helm of Team Ignite and Katy Smith (Kent CC) steering a course for Team Thrive.
In an intense period of fact finding, contestants spoke to a range of stakeholders who work towards mitigating all aspects of homelessness, including speed dating with housing and homeless officers from the IWC and representatives from charities such as Age UK and Inclusion. The teams visited three registered housing providers – Vectis Housing, Sovereign Housing and Southern Housing – to speak about the challenges, pressures and opportunities they face in supporting their service users.
However it was a visit to the B&B and hostel units used to meet urgent accommodation needs that made the issue really hit home for the 10 contestants: Speaking face to face with homeless people - families with young children in small, basic rooms living in close quarters with other vulnerable service users - brought into sharp focus one of the less publicised realities of island life for many local people - and the real complexities of the challenge.
At the end of an intense and emotional first day, the contestants adjourned to the Bargeman's Rest, a local hostelry on Newport's attractive quayside. There they were joined for dinner by IWC's top team, along with head judge Claire Holloway, and Allan Davey, preconstruction design director at 2019 Challenge sponsor Wates. Both teams used the time to interrogate the IWC team and headed back to their hotels to work on their plans and presentations.
At 12 noon the following day, written papers were submitted and the panel of judges – Chief executive John Metcalfe, assistant chief executive and director of strategy Wendy Perera, Allan Davey and head judge Claire Holloway – began their assessment.
Team Ignite presented Turning Tides - a transformational programme focused on prevention and response. Overseen by a Partnership Board which would include representation from people with current or past experience of homelessness, the proposals included an app allowing the community to donate unwanted items or money to a centralised fund and vulnerable people to seek the items they needed.
Fundamental to the programme were two strands – conversion of an existing vacant council property into an emergency accommodation hub providing food, support and activities, and a programme of intergenerational living allowing older people and ‘empty nesters' to offer spare rooms to a homeless person or family in return for support, help around the house and companionship. Ignite acknowledged the challenges of this approach and emphasised the importance of very careful matching and ongoing support.
Team Thrive presented their #daringtocare strategy, seeking to reframe homelessness as relevant to everyone and encouraging IoW residents to get involved in finding solutions. Their Opening Doors programme would encourage residents to offer space in their primary or second homes, in return for annual council tax reductions. With over 1000 registered AirBNB homes on the Island, the team also began to explore the potential of including some of this stock in their proposals, whilst acknowledging the challenges.
The judges withdrew to deliberate and to reflect on the outcome of a complex challenge which both teams had clearly and perhaps unsurprisingly struggled to address fully in 24 hours. The final results were not unanimous but in the end it was Thrive's more daring approach that won them the fourth challenge.
The LGA would like to thank the IWC for creating such a thought-provoking challenge. So it's on to challenge five and the last in this 10th anniversary series. Our final location has an airport, used to be famous for hat-making, produces commercial vehicles and the winner of the 2015 Great British Bake Off was born here…
Penny Galvin is political administrator of the LGA Conservative Group
