Peer Exchange Journal - World Habitat...Natalia Martinez, Fundació Hàbitat3, Barcelona Peer...

Natalia Martinez, Fundació Hàbitat3,

Barcelona

www.bshf.org

Peer Exchange Journal

Self-Help Housing in the North of EnglandWorld Habitat Awards 2015-16 winner

The Catalonia region of Spaincurrently has about 60,000affordable social housing rentalunits which represent 2% of thetotal housing stock.

Given this figure, it is clear thatthe social housing rental sector isinsufficient, especially when wecompare it with other Europeancountries which have an averageof 15%. Approximately 230,000additional social housing unitswould be necessary to meet thecurrent demand from citizens atrisk of social and residentialexclusion.

An estimated 450,000 emptyhomes in the region offer a hugepotential to meet Catalonia’shousing supply gap.

Fundació Hàbitat3, a privatefoundation based in Barcelona,has the mission to provide socialand inclusive housing for socialorganisations and localgovernments so they can deliverprogrammes for people withspecial needs or at risk ofpoverty or social exclusion.

Hàbitat3 finds houses in theprivate market or from othersuppliers such as financialinstitutions or even the publicsector; renovates them with thehelp of non-profit organisationsfocused on job placement; andmakes them available forpeople selected by public sectoror non-profit organisations.

Natalia Martinez


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Fundació Hàbitat3, Barcelona

As the head of the housingacquisition department I’vealways been keen to learn fromother people's experiences,particularly on acquiring andupdating properties. So when I got the invitation from BSHFto join the peer exchange toSelf-Help Housing in the Northof England, I immediatelyaccepted it.

The work of Canopy in Leedsand Giroscope in Hull, inrenovating empty homes toprovide affordable housing todisadvantaged people isinspirational. Both organisationsstarted in response to failedhousing markets and a desire tomatch empty homes to peoplein housing need. They pioneeredthe ‘Self-help’ housing model inthe UK which has inspired manyothers and has grown significantlyover the years.

The model involves organisationsacquiring long-term emptyproperties, renovating themusing volunteer labour andletting them out at rates whichare below market housing.

Joining the peer exchange wasan incredible learning experienceand offered me the opportunityto reflect on my work and thework of Fundació Hàbitat3. I’dlike to share my ‘learning journey’during the week of the peerexchange via my travel journalin the hope that this will givethe readers further insight intothe peer exchange as well as Canopy and Giroscope’s work in the North of England.


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Find out more about Fundació Hàbitat3

www.habitat3.cat

“Information's pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience.” Clarence Day


Day 1:

After checking in at the hotel inLeeds, I met up for dinner withsome of the participants andBSHF staff that had alreadyarrived. There were participantsfrom Canada, USA, South Africa,Spain and Puerto Rico. SteveHoey, the director of Canopy,was also there to welcome andjoin the group.

We introduced ourselves toeach other on our way to therestaurant and before supperarrived at the table we werealready engaged in a number of conversations.

The majority of the group wereworking on the renovation ofempty properties to use them associal housing and a few wereworking in homelessness. It wasalso interesting to meet twoparticipants from Detroit – ChrisLambert of Life Remodeled, whoannually mobilises 10,000volunteers to clean upneighbourhoods in six days andPura Bascos of Detroit LandBank Authority, who managesthe demolition of blightedproperties! It was without doubta rather diverse and interestinggroup.

Meeting the group

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2016 SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER

Chris Lambert, Life Remodeled

Pura Bascos, Detroit Land Bank Authority


After a warm welcome fromBSHF, Martin Newman fromGiroscope and Steve Hoey fromCanopy introduced their respectiveorganisations. We also saw thevideo produced by BSHF on thework of both organisations forthe World Habitat Awards. Thisgave us a glimpse of how thetwo charities are addressingempty properties in Leeds andHull, which are amongst themost deprived areas in the wholeof the UK. It also showed a few ofthe volunteers and tenants whohave been involved in therenovation process or havebeen housed and whose liveshave been improved throughCanopy and Giroscope’s work.

All the 12 participants also didpresentations of their respectiveorganisations and projects.These are key elements of thePeer Exchange; as a way totransfer information, experiencesand knowledge. Half of theparticipants were working onaddressing homelessness intheir communities and were looking into the possibility of

tapping into empty homes toprovide affordable, permanenthousing for homeless people. There were several in the groupthat were directly involved inbringing back empty propertiesinto use and keen to learn from the project about engagingvolunteers and tenants in theprocess. It was very motivatingto see that we all shared a passionfor working with disadvantagedpeople and improving people’sliving conditions in ourrespective contexts.

After the presentations we were then split into two groups and briefed on the programme for the next three days. Each group would in turn visit one organisation (either Canopy or Giroscope) and then swap to visit the other so we’d all have the chance to get to know both organisations and see their work.

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2016SEPTEMBER19MONDAY

Day 2: Participant introductions

Meeting the participants and finding out about their organisations


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Day 3: Visiting Canopy's offices in Leeds

2016 TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

Canopy has a bulletin board that contains the renovation schedule and a box of keys (just like

we do at Hàbitat3!)

My group started at Canopy’snew office, a house they hadjust refurbished and convertedinto their office.

Their office walls were decoratedwith pictures of volunteers andtenants doing renovation work.Throughout the day we saw howcrucial the involvement ofvolunteers is for their model’ssuccess. Staff, volunteers andfuture tenants work togethernot only to make the renovationof the houses possible, but alsoto help turn around the lives ofthose who will end up living inthe renovated home.

Keith Gibson, Canopy’s chair,spoke about their history; howover the past 20 years they havemanaged to get ‘peppercorn’leases (nominal £1 a yearleases) from the city council,and recently even purchasedempty houses to renovate themand, in turn, rent them to peoplein housing need. They currentlyown 15 houses and have thelease or management of 45properties.

Afterwards Steve Hoey, Canopy’sdirector, took to the floor andmade a point about the twosituations that have setCanopy’s work in motion:

• Empty houses• The need of housing for

many people and families

He also showed us a videoposted on YouTube by TheGuardian which featured theirvolunteers and tenants who arecentral to Canopy’s work in therenovation of empty propertiesin Leeds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1mq30PW9a0


We also got to meet otherCanopy staff members: Sharon,who is the Operations Managerand has previously worked at abig Housing Association; Rosie,who is responsible for tenantsupport and has experience inworking with refugees.

We then met Alex who startedas a Construction Site Managerand is now responsible for allthe renovations that Canopyundertakes. He told us that his work does not have to dowith homes, it has to do withpeople; he also told us thatwhenever he meets volunteers to work on a house, he always says that everybody hassomething to teach andsomething to learn.

He explained how volunteersare Canopy’s backbone; theybring in their expertise andskills. They also provide asupport network which tenantsseldom have.

The renovation process is also aprocess of creating ties betweenthe tenants who take part in therenovation of the house that theywill live in. Alex also mentionedthat they refurbish homes to bemore energy efficient, particularlyimproving the insulation in orderto address the issue of fuelpoverty.

Canopy homes are fully furnishedand tenants are provided with agift pack with some homeessentials such as kitchenware,cutlery, bedding and towels.

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Day 3:2016SEPTEMBER20TUESDAY

Outside Canopy’s office

Alex from Canopy talked us through the renovation process

“Everybody has something to teach and something to learn”

After lunch we went to arenovation site. There we metSarah, the Site Manager; Patrick,the Maintenance Manager; andDaniel, who used to be avolunteer and is now on a one-year apprenticeshipprogramme with Canopy.

They briefed us on safety rules,provided us with steel cappedshoes and armed us withwallpaper strippers.

After a couple of hours and atea break, this was the outcome:

It was engaging work and goodfun to do it with other people.Alex played some music on theradio and we all talked aboutanything as we scrubbed andstripped the paper off the walls.

When it was time to finish, wetook off our boots and gatheredtogether to talk about theexperience. It had beengratifying to be a part of therenovation work and to meetthe workers and volunteers.


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Day 3: Renovating the houses

2016 TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

Before we went back to thehotel, Alex showed us some verysmall houses called back toback terraces; they are about ahalf of a house. One can seethem very well on this streetsince there is a block where justone side of the halves was stillstanding. They were the lowestform of housing of those built at the end of the 19thcentury to house Leeds’industrial workers.

At dinnertime you could tellwe’d established a goodrapport, having spent two fulldays together. Our conversationswere more engaged with morequestions being asked. Weexplained to each other allabout our work and our projectsback home. We stayed longerand talked more after dinnerand some of us even went outfor a late beer.

Sheldon Pollett, the Director ofChoices for Youth in SaintJohn’s, Newfoundland (Canada)said that the conversation hadbeen shifting and we talked lessabout the problems and moreabout the solutions. He felt itwas a step forward - I couldn’tagree more.


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Day 3: 2016SEPTEMBER20TUESDAY

Outside a Canopy home

Houses in Leeds

“We talked less about the problems and more about the solutions”


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Day 4: Our last session with Canopy

2016 WEDNESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER

Steve told us his view oninnovation - that it is not onlyabout doing something new.Building a home used to becommon, however it is ratherunusual now and that’s why it is an innovation.

He also shared with us histhoughts on the future ofCanopy and explained aboutthe negotiations with Leeds CityCouncil to extend the leases.They were quite hopeful thatthey would grant them 99-yearleases. Canopy will also use theCouncil’s Right to Buy schememoney to fund the rehabilitationof five houses that will berented to people on theCouncil’s waiting list foraffordable housing.

The relationship between LeedsCity Council and Canopy hasworked well in providing socialhousing. Steve mentioned theyare now trying to extend thisgood practice to other placesboth in England and abroad.

He also told us about a study onCanopy’s return of social value:Canopy has produced £4.28 ofsocial value for each £1 ofexternal investment. Examplesof social value include obviousmeasures such as reduction inbenefits payments but extendalso to less obvious and perhapsless-easily-quantifiablemeasures such as "better familyrelationships". This has beendone by calculating theMonetary Equivalent Value. Inspite of Canopy’s small size,they often get consulted byhousing related study groups,who think their model could be adapted andreplicated.

We said our farewells and set off for the station to take the train to Hull –‘Ull’ as locals say – to visit Giroscope and see their work.

My Group (from left to right): Mariangela fromBSHF, Alejandro from RAIS Fundación, Kathrynfrom BSHF, Eduardo from Provivienda, Kallan fromHomes First, Robert from the California Coalitionfor Rural Housing and Sheldon from Choices for Youth.


Upon entering Giroscope’soffice, we saw a display ofpictures on their office walls justlike Canopy, showing theirvolunteers doing renovationwork. It’s quite interesting howphotographs show eachorganisation’s style, personalityand differences.

Robert Amesbury, the chair ofthe Board of Trustees andMartin Newman, theCoordinator told us aboutGiroscope’s origins and itsevolution from a housingcooperative to its currentcharity status also including a company undertakingrenovation work.

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Day 4: Visiting Giroscope's office in Hull

2016SEPTEMBER21WEDNESDAY

Outside Giroscope's office

Walls inside Giroscope's office


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Day 4:Learning about the history of Giroscope

2016 WEDNESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER

Giroscope was formed in 1985by a group of ex-students andunemployed young people whodecided to take direct action toresolve their own housingsituation. Fed up with rentingpoor quality private sectorhousing, the group decided totake advantage of cheap houseprices, purchasing their firstproperty using their giros(unemployment benefitcheques) and borrowing funds.They established a worker’scooperative to renovate thehouse which was then let out toprovide accommodation forunemployed people. Over thenext few years they managed toscrape together enough moneyto purchase several morehouses to renovate, picking upmore building skills along theway. By 1990 the same group offriends already owned 16houses.

In 2012 a £50 million governmentprogramme, the Empty HomesCommunity Grant Programme,was created to refurbish emptyhomes. As a result of thisprogramme, Giroscope expandeduntil it owned 48 properties andstarted a construction companythat carries out the renovationsand seeks contracts in the privatemarket. This way they could employtheir workers and volunteerswhen they were not doing anyin-house renovation projects.

Giroscope’s volunteers are usuallypeople without work; they maybe on parole or overcoming drug use issues, often both. They do voluntary work with Giroscopea few hours a week together with the renovation teams. Often through this process volunteers became tenants and tenants became volunteers.

Visiting a house currently

under renovation


After lunch, Caroline Gore-Booth,the Project Coordinator, andRobert led the group to see ahouse that was undergoingrefurbishment; it was the firsthouse that Giroscope hadbought.

There we met Ian, the managerof Giroscope’s constructioncompany and several staffmembers, who would be joiningus for dinner tonight.

From there we walked to an areawhere there had been housesselected for demolition underthe Housing Market RenewalInitiative, a governmentprogramme that ran from 2002to 2011, which aimed todemolish hundreds of Victorianterraced houses in some cities inthe North of England andreplace them with newly builtbetter housing. By the time theprogramme ended, manyhouses in Hull had been vacatedbut never demolished. Theplace was like a ghost town.

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Day 4: Walking tour of houses and social enterprises

2016SEPTEMBER21WEDNESDAY

An area where houses had been selected

for demolition

On the streets of Hull hearing from Caroline


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Day 4: 2016 WEDNESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER

Bakery social enterprise

R-evolution bikeworks

Caroline told us that the houseswere not in such a bad state tenyears ago. In fact they weren’tworse than others that had notbeen designated for demolition.But having been abandoned andempty for 10 years, the housesare now in such a bad conditionthat there’s no alternative but todemolish them. As a result, theneighbourhood has sufferedabandonment and facesuncertainty about the futurewith properties being leftabandoned, lots of boarded uphouses and problems of crimeand antisocial behaviour notbeing addressed. In some areaswhere demolished houses usedto be, some new developmentsare being built.

We kept on with our walk andwe arrived at where Giroscope’soffices used to be. They havenow rented these spaces tovarious local social enterprisesat an affordable rent.

There was a bakery that hadprovided our lunches, a smallbrewery, a sauce company and a school of English forimmigrants. We also visited a bicycle repair shop called R-evolution, which providesemployment and resettlementsupport to people on parole orrecently released from prisonand provides the communitywith affordable bikes.

Before dinner, we walked to the Humber river docks and saw Hull’s aquarium, which was built for the millennium.The pub where we would behaving dinner was very close by. We had a very lively meal,fun conversations and learned more about our respective projects.


In the morning, Sally Clarke andSarah Sanders, the Volunteerand Tenant Support Managersat Giroscope, took us to a housenear Giroscope’s office. Thehouse has four units and we gotto see one of the units whichhad been recently vacated andrefurbished and was now readyfor tenants.

There was a big garden justoutside the house, which wasthe one we’ve seen on the video,so we already knew Sharon, whowas taking care of the garden.It’s going to be a communitygarden and she had done quitea lot of work since the filming.With some volunteer help shehad managed to clean andimprove the garden.

She was keen to engagedifferent people – children,elderly people and people withlearning difficulties – in thegarden work. She also told usthat Giroscope had managed torent the garden next door at avery low price, so she has a newchallenge. She was quietlyproud of the garden and onecould see how much she cared.

Afterwards we went to a housewhich was being refurbishedand to another empty housethat Giroscope had just bought. Giroscope tries to buy empty properties for around £40,000 and renovates them for £25,000.

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Day 5: Refurbished homes and the community garden

2016SEPTEMBER22THURSDAY

A recently refurbished house

At the community garden with Sharon

(far left)


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Day 5: Meeting residents

2016 THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER

Back at the office we learned aboutone of Giroscope’s newest projects,a self-build development of four orfive houses in their own back yard.

They were giving it a lot of thought,for the cost of building these housesis around £100,000 per housewithout accounting for the landvalue, which is far more expensivethan the renovation model.

We also had a chance to meetand talk to two young Giroscopetenants, two single mothers whotold us of how grateful theywere to Giroscope for providingthem a secure, affordableaccommodation in a time ofhousing need. Instead of worryingabout their housing situation,they could now focus on providinga good future for their children.

We wrapped up with Martin andCaroline sharing with us someof their thoughts on the futureof the organisation. Giroscopehad recently closed a deal witha local bank to secure theirloans and had been workingtogether with other self-help

housing organisations such as Canopy. They told us about their relationship with Hull City Council and about a loan from a BuildingSociety to develop housing for young people. They plan to offer managing andmaintaining services to local landlords, especially those around neighbourhoodswhere Giroscope ownsproperties. Exciting newapproaches and ideas!

They thanked us for our visit and informed us that the peer exchange and ourquestions about their workhad not only been a source of information but had alsotriggered a soul-searchingexercise for the organisation.

Hearing from residents

Learning about Giroscope's newest projects

On the last day of the peerexchange the two groupsreconvened at the Tetley, an oldbrewery building that hadrecently been renovated andturned into a cultural centre andmeeting room in Leeds. Westarted the day working in pairs– one from each group – tothink about the differences andsimilarities between Canopyand Giroscope, to see theiropportunities for improvementand growth and to givefeedback on their work.

Both organisations use ‘trade-mark pictures’ that show theirvolunteers and tenants workingon a renovation project andhang them up proudly on theiroffice walls and websites.

We all agreed that a commontrait for both organisations isthe strength they have fromtheir local roots and the factthat they focus on the inclusionof people in housing need.Volunteers and tenants do notjust turn around houses; theyturn around their own lives.

Canopy and Giroscope valuedhaving a group of visitors fromaround the world asking questionsand sharing their opinions andthoughts. For them the peerexchange had fostered a processof analysis, provided anoutsider’s perspective andhelped them to be more self-critical.

Steve explained again how important it is to determine the social value of the organisation’swork in monetary terms. Also how much organisations can learnfrom networking with one another and how important it is to develop sustainable financial models together with local authorities.


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Day 6: A return to Leeds

2016SEPTEMBER23FRIDAY

Visiting a house being renovatedby Giroscope volunteers

“Volunteers and tenants donot just turn around houses;they turn around their ownlives.”

Afterwards we had twopresentations, one by MarkIreland from Leeds City Counciland the other by Neil Evans,Director of Environment andHousing. Both focussed on thereasons why Leeds City Councilhas been working together withorganisations like Canopy andthe reasons why other localauthorities should do the same.They said that the partnershipsformed with these groups weregood value, built on trust andmaking a difference to people’slives.

We also had the opportunity tojoin and celebrate with Canopyin its 20th anniversary. Canopy’sstaff, tenants and volunteerswere also there for the celebration.They thought it was a nicecoincidence to have receivedthe World Habitat Award ontheir 20th birthday.


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Day 6:Celebrating Canopy's 20th anniversary

2016 FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER

Hearing about Canopy’s 20th anniversary from Steve

https://www.worldhabitatawards.org


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Lastly, David Ireland, director of BSHF, gave us his thoughts on how both organisations aremore alike than not; for theirenergy, the passion for whatthey do and their seizing ofopportunities and use ofresources. Both seek toempower people.

He also reminded us to submitour own innovative projects tothe World Habitat Awards.

BSHF’s mission, he said, is tohelp people have a decenthome and that’s why theyidentify innovative housingpractice and support theexchange and transfer of goodpractice.

After having our group phototaken with the rest of theCanopy team, we went to theboard room for our last sessiondiscussing our conclusions andproposals to keep in touch andcontinue our exchange ofinformation and experiences.

Day 6: Final conclusions

2016SEPTEMBER23FRIDAY

Group photo at The Tetley in Leeds

https://www.worldhabitatawards.org


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The week of the peer exchangehad been intense days oflearning, meeting other peopleand exchanging experiencesand information. We met andtalked with the people involvedin both organisations: staffmembers, volunteers andtenants of their properties,board members and other localstakeholders. We came incontact with people fromCanada, United States, SouthAfrica and Europe and sharedeach other’s projects andsuccesses and failures. We haveseen we have so much incommon.

We have been led through thestreets of Leeds and Hull, andwe have seen areas that haveimproved as a result of ideasthat came to fruition throughthe work of enthusiastic people,people like us who believe theirdedication may make adifference and enhance theopportunities of decent housingfor those who most need it.It had been a privilege to be apart of the peer exchange, to

see first-hand the award-winning work of Canopy andGiroscope and immerseourselves in a rich learningexperience. Now it is time to goback to work and take with uswhat we have learnt here, applythe lessons from this goodpractice and continue to learncollectively how to createinnovative solutions to housingissues.

Summary“Now it is time to go back to work and take with uswhat we have learnt here”

Peer Exchange Journal - World Habitat...Natalia Martinez, Fundació Hàbitat3, Barcelona Peer...

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