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Latest news

Commonweal appoints Trustee Amarjit Bains to Vice-Chair of Board

Social justice charity Commonweal Housing has appointed its experienced Trustee and homelessness project delivery expert Amarjit Bains, to Vice-Chair of…

Housing ideas wanted for young people impacted by care, mental health and education 

Commonweal Housing is inviting not-for-profits to devise new and imaginative housing and support model ideas targeted at specific injustices facing young…

Care, mental health, and school exclusion: drivers of youth homelessness requiring urgent attention, research says

Young people who have had experience of the care system, have mental health problems, or have faced serial school exclusion…

Four students investigating housing issues and the cost of living receive grant funding

Four final-year students from the University of Birmingham have been awarded grant funding as part of Commonweal Housing’s Jane Slowey…

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Blogs

Call for New Ideas: It was an opportunity we felt we have worked towards  

By Aliyah Ali | April 19, 2024

Aliyah Fadeela Ali, is a trauma informed trainer, consultant, researcher and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Daddyless Daughters Project CIC. In this Blog, Aliyah reflects on Daddyless Daughters’ journey with Commonweal’s 2023 Call for New Ideas: Criminal Justice initiative – testing new housing models to address injustices facing those in contact…

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Commonweal’s Conversation with Vice-Chair Amarjit Bains

By Lauren Aronin | April 16, 2024

In this series, Commonweal’s Conversations, we’re chatting to the people at the heart of change in our sector. From frontline service users to CEOs, we want to hear everything from what makes them tick, what hope they see for the future of the sector, and what their favourite ice cream flavour is. We recently sat down…

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Housing barriers impact VAWG survivors journey to recovery and independence

By Lauren Aronin | December 5, 2023

This week marks the second week of ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence’, an international moment to call for an end to violence against women and girls (VAWG), which is a systematic injustice affecting one in three women globally. In the UK, VAWG is rising at an alarming rate. An estimated 2.4 million adults…

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Commonweal’s Conversation with Trustee Dr Elanor Warwick

By Lauren Aronin | November 28, 2023

In this new series, Commonweal’s Conversations, we’re chatting to the people at the heart of change in our sector. From frontline service users to CEOs, we want to hear everything from what makes them tick, what hope they see for the future of the sector, and what their favourite ice cream flavour is. First up…

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It’s about time young adult carers get rights to ensure they have secure housing

By Alicia Jones | November 23, 2023

Alicia Jones, who has experience as a young adult carer, shares her view on the housing issues facing young adult carers this Carers Rights Day 2023.  Adolescence is meant to be a time to enjoy yourself and do all those stereotypical things people do between 16 and 25; like the first holiday with your friends,…

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Understanding the lack of adequate social housing provision for the LGBTQ+ community in the United Kingdom

By Talia Knoble-Gershon | August 31, 2023

It was an honour to be one of four from the University of Birmingham to be awarded the Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary, established in honour of an amazing woman who advocated against social injustices in society. The grant money allowed me to concentrate fully on my dissertation and other pieces of work and conduct many…

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Call for New Ideas: Commonweal were fantastic and supported us all the way through the process

By Gaynor Brooke | August 21, 2023

Gaynor Brooke, Head of Services at successful 2022 Call for New Ideas applicant Servol Community Services, reflects on her organisation’s journey with Commonweal’s Call for New Ideas: I have worked in the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector in the West Midlands for over 20 years and joined Servol Community Services in 2021…

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The impacts of regeneration on women in the Tower Hamlets

By Grace Hill | July 25, 2023

Grace Hill is a recent graduate from the University of Birmingham’s School of Social Policy, who received the Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary from Commonweal in her final year. The Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary from Commonweal Housing gave me financial freedom. The £2,500 grant money allowed me to devote my time to my studies by drastically…

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Former Move on Up resident shares how the project shaped his future

By Lauren Aronin | June 15, 2023

Tim, a tenant of the Move on Up housing project, share his experience as a young adult carer and how the project helped him shape his future. Move on Up which provides supportive housing to young adult carers aged 18-25 in partnership with Quaker Social Action (QSA), approaches the end of its seven-year pilot period.…

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The news made Homes for Ukraine a success, now we must harness it to protect all migrants

By Harry Williams | May 5, 2023

This article was originally published in the Chartered Institute of Housing Spring 2023 Housing Rights newsletter.  When the heart-breaking images of the young Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, lying face-down on a beach in Turkey swept across our frontpages, it felt as though an impasse had been broken: a moment of realisation that the perils of…

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Feasibility Studies

Solving social injustice requires new and imaginative ideas, and we want to find them. We provide funding and support to frontline organisations to enable them to test their lightbulb moments and establish whether these could be feasible housing models, and if successful we launch a property-based pilot project in unison with our new partners.

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