Over the course of seven years, Praxis provided secure accommodation for families without access to mainstream welfare support through our innovative, social investment-backed housing project. We collaborated with Commonweal Housing and local authorities to ensure that people facing homelessness and destitution had a safe place to live.
While they were living in the safety of our housing project, our dedicated legal advisers worked on the families' immigration cases, enabling them to obtain the documents necessary to access work, mainstream support, and housing.
We were able to run this project through a range of funding including from local authorities, who had a statutory duty to assist families with children at risk of homelessness.
Additionally, we allocated smaller rooms in the houses we managed to single women who would have otherwise been excluded from housing support and facing homelessness while they waited, often for years, for their papers to be processed by the Home Office.
The individuals living in our housing project had often endured traumatic experiences, including trafficking, domestic violence, and homelessness. Their time in our safe and comfortable homes allowed them to take stock and regain the confidence needed to rebuild their lives. Many also joined Praxis' peer support group for mothers WINGS, or our youth group Brighter Futures.
Throughout the project's life, 128 people, including 93 children, found a home in our housing project. For many, it was the first time they experienced the stability of a safe home. The bespoke project saved local authorities £8 million.