Community Solutions to Housing and Homelessness 2023 now open for Expressions of Interest

15 Feb 2023

The Community Solutions to Housing and Homelessness is OPEN for expression of interest.

The Community Foundation is delighted to offer a new round of Community Solutions to Housing and Homelessness.
The programme, funded by the Oak Foundation, supports the development of project ideas and community solutions to challenges on Housing and Homelessness issues, by working together with a range of organisations and giving voice to individuals with lived experience of housing and homelessness in Northern Ireland.

Gemma McCaughley, Innovation and Voice programme officer said:

“We are delighted to offer a new round of the Community Solutions to Housing and Homelessness programme. This year we can support up to 10 project teams to participate in stage one of the programme, the innovation process.  We have seed funding grants of up to £25,000 each to support the testing and development of the solutions developed by the programme in stage two.”

“We hope to inspire innovation in addressing the root causes of Housing stress and homelessness in Northern Ireland and are calling on those working in Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations to work together to design new services or campaigns for change, or both. We are therefore encouraging collaborative project teams to be formed which will comprise of VCSE organisations, public sector representatives and people with lived experience of the issues.

“Collaboration is encouraged but not essential and project teams can comprise of individuals from one organisation. Fundamental to the programme is that people with lived experience of housing stress and homelessness are at the heart of the design and delivery of the solutions being developed.  Instrumental in our overall programme design is that representatives with lived experience are involved in all stages of the programme including the programme steering group and awards panel.

We are looking for early stage ideas or approaches that address one of 13 priority challenge areas identified.

See here for full details on the challenge areas and programme criteria.

This application should be submitted with reference to the Community Solutions to Housing and Homelessness Programme guidance notes, available with this application.

Registration closes on Thursday 23rd March at 4pm.

Support available

A programme officer is available to support groups and organisations with any queries they may have in relation to this application, and provide an opportunity to discuss their project idea or seek help with team formation.

Please note, successful project teams will be informed on 29th March and must be able to commence the programme in the first week April 23.  Programme dates are available in the guidance notes.

For more information on this programme, contact Gemma McCaughley at gmccaughley@communityfoundationni.org