As we embark on ‘Building Tomorrow’ an ambitious new neighbourhood housing scheme, local community members from Oasis Scunthorpe share their stories.
Sam was walking down the street dreaming of her new home. She had been on the housing register since she was eight months pregnant and was going to view a property. She had lived in Scunthorpe with her mother since she was five after they moved from Pakistan. Now she needed a place of her own. ‘Maybe this could finally be the home’ she thought to herself as she imagined a new life with renewed hope and independence.
As Sam walked down the street, anticipation building in her stomach, one of the local residents suddenly shouted, “F*ck off and go back to your own country”. Shocked, she put her head down and sped up to the viewing, her cheeks hot with rage and sadness as she quietly whispered to herself “but this is my country.”
Sam knew she wouldn’t be able to accept the property – the neighbourhood would not be safe for her or her baby. It would take Sam two and a half years for her to find a suitable home. Even when she was eventually given accommodation, her housing issues continued. “I moved a bit of skirting once and the whole wall collapsed on me” she says only to be told that it was her fault and that she’d have to pay to have someone come over to fix it.
Today, 20 years later, Sam is in the same house. Every winter, her boiler pipes freeze up which is a serious problem because she suffers from fibromyalgia. This means she’s on the priority list for support but still has to wait days to get heating or hot water back.
A new solution
Sam’s story is a snapshot of a growing problem within Scunthorpe and across the country. Housing is in a state of crisis. Roughly, 430,000 social homes currently fail minimum standards of care. Charlotte is a mum of three who’s eldest goes to Oasis Academy Henderson Avenue and lives in one of these homes. When asked to describe her housing situation, she says, “I’ve got damp and mould in my house. I’ve got a leak coming from my bathroom that’s going through the fuse box that keeps shutting off the electrics. I’ve got wobbly floorboards upstairs and I’ve got a hole in my bedroom that’s covered up by the carpet.”
Charlotte says she’s wanted to move many times but hasn’t because she doesn’t want to move her daughter from school. Charlotte is also worried that her children have developed reoccurring coughs from the damp in their rooms. “My husband is going grey — he’s younger than me — because of the stress of the house,” she says.
Many families are also falling through the cracks because they don’t fit neatly into the categories of eligibility despite facing a number of additional challenges.
Laura is co-founder of Beautiful Madhouse, a beauty salon that works out of the Oasis community space in Scunthorpe. She has two sons who need separate bedrooms due to their autism which makes eligibility for housing support difficult. “I am fed up of being one of the dirty uncounted that don’t deserve help because I don’t fit in the right bracket,” she says. “It makes me feel sh*t.”
“Rent is going up stupid amounts every year. I’m struggling to afford the house I’m in because the council can’t help. I can’t afford to save,” she says.
Last year over half of teachers at English state schools worked with children who were homeless. We know that quality of housing directly impacts educational attainment, physical health and so much more. Yet, 140,000 households are currently in insecure accommodation.
Housing is not just about four walls and a roof, but the futures of our young people. Something has to change. That’s why we’re pioneering a new solution to the housing crisis — ‘Building Tomorrow’. We’re purchasing 20 houses — 10 in Scunthorpe and 10 in Sheffield — for families hardest hit by poverty with children who go to our academies.
The homes we purchase will be three-bed properties, rented at below market rates, offering safe, high-quality, affordable housing. In this way, we will create an eco-system of support around families making sure that housing, education and community work are all interconnected. Through conversations with residents in Scunthorpe, we’ve begun to see three key challenges shaping life in our community there. Building Tomorrow isn’t limited to addressing these alone, but they are important signposts, helping us listen and respond to the wider, interconnected pressures families are facing.
Proximity matters
Firstly, proximity. Transport is a significant issue for many families in Scunthorpe, particularly those hardest hit by poverty. “If you don’t have a car. It’s too hard to take children to school” says Dlnya, the mother of two Oasis students.
Many families in insecure accommodation are housed in neighbourhoods far away from school and community meaning they need to take long, expensive journeys, sometimes on multiple buses. This impacts both the education of children and limits opportunities for families to enjoy wider activities.
Jane is a local landlord in Scunthorpe and was previously the Literacy Lead at Oasis Academy Henderson Avenue. She recalls a time when she was teaching a class and put up an image of the local country park less than a 10-minute drive from the school. Only 20% of the class had ever been.
That’s why every house we buy will be within a mile of our academies. By purchasing homes close to our schools we aim to take the burden off families and build better connections to what’s on offer within Scunthorpe so that no family is isolated or burdened with paying for transport they simply can’t afford.
Community support
We know from four decades of community work that all our needs are interconnected. We do not live siloed lives. That’s why our houses will be connected to our schools and community work. It’s this holistic model that allows us to serve the specific needs of our community, reflecting the particularities of the neighbourhood.
Youth work is a significant issue in Scunthorpe. “Youth provision in this local area is not very good at all,” says Hannah, a youth worker from Community Vision who “fell in love” with the Oasis Scunthorpe hub when she first started running youth work sessions there.
“There’s no late-night provision really round here and there’s no support for kids … It’s a real shame that that provision is lacking,” she says, “The funding is the key issue.”
Hannah recalls the “heartbreaking” experiences of some of the young people she’s worked with. Previously, when there was more funding for youth work, Oasis ran a scheme where young people could earn points for doing chores and spend them on things they wanted. Initially many young people spent their points on sweets and crisps, then vegetables to cook with at home. But later on, some spent theirs on toiletries such as toothpaste because parents couldn’t afford it.
The value of youth work in the area cannot be overstated. “We are in one of the most socio—economically deprived areas of the country and we need to do more” says Hannah. “And if we don’t — everything is going to get worse. The housing situation is going to get worse — the money situation, the job situation. There has to be some point where we go, ‘we can intervene and we can support’. And even if we only help 1 in 50 kids, it is worth it.”
Stability
Thirdly, stability. Many community members are anxious about renting privately because it can be very unstable.
Trevor, a community member who’s lived in Scunthorpe for over 20 years as a carer says, “working with vulnerable people in the community, I hear that nobody wants to rent private property unless they are moving in somewhere where the landlord is really pleasant and has a portfolio and isn’t likely to pull it out from under them.” For him, the instability of private renting is “frightening always”.
Jane says that for families hardest hit by poverty “there needs to be good communication” from housing providers. “Families need to feel that they have some stability. Stability is key.”
The dream for community
Crucially, Building Tomorrow is not just about housing. It’s about empowering local people to have the confidence and resources to transform their own community. “The dream is to knit the people together in those houses, not just with fellow residents, but actually all that’s going on in Scunthorpe,” says Ty, leader of Oasis Scunthorpe. “We want to create the leaders of tomorrow who are advocating for better housing and all the things we want to see in Scunthorpe but haven’t been fully realised yet.”
Oasis’ work in Scunthorpe is “about incubating people, incubating ideas, businesses – all of that – to enable people to genuinely realise their God-given potential. For us to do that from that place of the home is incredibly powerful,” says Ty.
Local people are already working to make a difference; we just need to listen. “Everybody’s situation is different. But in a sense, we all boil down to the same thing.” says Helen, community volunteer and co-founder of Beautiful Madhouse. “We all want to do our bit for our own community. Whether it’s Scunthorpe as a whole, Westcliffe, Brumby, whichever way you want to look at it, it doesn’t matter. Community is everything. Without community you don’t have anything.”
“The whole system needs to start listening to the people who live in this town. Not just what they think we want. They need to ask us what we want,” she adds.
Fill a home
Purchasing 20 homes in Scunthorpe and Sheffield is just the start of the journey. Together, we want to pioneer a new solution to the housing crisis that offers joined-up support unlocking the potential, creativity and energy of local people.
Thanks to your generosity throughout our 40th anniversary year we’ve secured most of the funding required to purchase the houses. Now we just need to fill them. Could you donate to make sure our families have all the things they need to thrive — whether that’s a kettle, a sofa, or a welcome food hamper? We are ambitious to change the future of housing in this country and help families become the leaders of tomorrow. Will you join us?
Give here: https://oasischaritabletrust.enthuse.com/cf/building-tomorrow
