Our homeless to home project is in collaboration with The Housing Options Centre of Cardiff Council.

We piloted a scheme from November 2018 - April 2019 in which we would supply basic essential home starter packs to families/individuals from a homeless situation, into an empty property. In this piloted scheme, we supplied 131 furniture packs to people who couldn't afford it themselves.

Contained in each pack could be:

• A bed for each bedroom + bedding
• Wardrobe/Chest of drawers for each bedroom
• Bedside cab for each bed 
• Sofa
• Coffee Table
• TV Unit
• TV
• Washing Machine
• Fridge Freezer 
• Cooker 
• Microwave 
• Kitchen Starter Pack (plates, cup, glasses, dishes, crockery and utensils)

Following a successful trial, we partnered with The Housing Options Centre to provide this scheme on an on-going basis and to date, we have completed 511 furniture packs.

I honestly don't know what I would have done with out this! Thank you - Jack (Service User)

EndFurniturePoverty.org recently released a study in March 2021 that puts a figure on the social value that is created by giving somebody an essential furniture pack when they move into an empty property. They have calculated its generates up to £6472 in social value.

This scheme is carried out since April 2013 by Liverpool City Council known as the Citizen Support Scheme to which they have helped with over 6,000 furniture packs.

Recipients of these essential furniture packs received help with:

• Bed, bedding and mattress
• Washing Machine
• Table and Chairs
• Cooker
• Fridge Freezer
• Sofa
• Wardrobes/Chest of drawers
• Carpets
• Curtains
• TV

The outcomes of this study speak for themselves as 47% of participants felt less worried about money, while over 30% of people felt it had improved their relationships because they were less dependent on others. 65% of people felt ‘proud’ of Liverpool because they felt like they had the support they needed, when they needed it and 43% reported the feeling of increased freedom and independence.

If we just take our partnership with The Housing Options Centre, and apply the social value calculated by EndFurniturePoverty, over the completed 502 furniture packs we have given, in the just under 2 years we have been operating our Homeless to Home project, it projects an estimated maximum social value of up to £3.2m!

Taking into consideration, we have not completed 511 FULL packs, as it depends on the needs of the service user, and we do not currently supply carpets, but if we only take 25% of that value, we can confidently say that we have injected over £800,000 of social value through this scheme.

If you would like to read the report by EndFurniturePoverty.org or to find out how they have calculated social value, you can do so HERE