Nationwide Support HARP!
We're celebrating after making a successful bid for funding from Nationwide Building Society for its work to support local homeless people.
Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society, has been looking to support charities dealing with the many issues around housing across the East of England area, and made £500,000 available to help make a difference across communities across the region.
Now the names of those charities that have secured the grants they applied for have been announced – and we're delighted that HARP has been confirmed as a beneficiary of the scheme.
The grant aims to provide funding for a specialist worker to promote an eviction prevention service and liaise and mediate where possible with the landlord and tenant to get things back on track. we also want to increase the number and quality of relationships we have with private sector landlords and letting agents to provide more affordable accommodation.
Nationwide invited applications for grants of up to £50,000 for housing projects that have the potential to strengthen communities and help make a difference in local areas, ranging from innovative new housing, improving conditions, to supporting the most vulnerable. Applications were accepted from across the East of England area.
Gary Turner, HARP’s Service Operations Manager, said: “This grant will allow us to fund an innovative new post, that not only will help prevent people losing a tenancy and becoming homeless in the first place, but will also allow us to strengthen our relationships with landlords, letting agents, housing associations and Southend Borough Council housing departments, so that service users who are ready are able to take the final step and live independently in the community.”
Andy Westhead, Nationwide’s Regional Director for the East of England area, said: “We know that there are many people who have been homeless or have experienced family or close friends without a home of their own, so it’s imperative that we do something about this.
“Helping people into homes of their own is at the heart of what we do as a building society, which is why we’re making funding available for local housing projects. In fact, we’re making £22 million available for the next five years across the UK to do just this and ensure everyone has a place fit to call home.”
A Community Board of Nationwide members, employees and local housing experts was appointed to have a say on which local community projects were supported.
