Bringing National Homelessness Property Fund 2’s (NHPF2) housing partners together recently at the fund’s latest Housing Partner Forum, proved to be another successful opportunity for improving shared practices for both Resonance and partners.

The event, held in person, at one of the NCVO Society’s meeting spaces in London, saw representatives from several of the fund’s housing partners from across the UK come together for a day of learning, sharing, collaboration and insight.

The day was led by Resonance’s Fund Manager and Head of Homelessness Property Funds, Chris Cullen and Martin Lawson, Head of Strengthening Impact at Resonance, with a focus on the work of the homelessness property funds and best practice in supporting the tenants that live in the funds’ homes.

The forum meets twice yearly to bring learning and improvements into the ongoing practices of the fund and its partners, providing a valuable opportunity for housing partners to discuss issues affecting their organisations and their tenants

Three external speakers joined the forum to share their expertise, prompting interesting and thoughtful discussions ‘around the table’, throughout the day:

• Maria Morgan, Founder and Non-Executive Director of Kineara CIC, that works collaboratively with local authorities, landlords and social prescribers across London to help individuals and families experiencing multiple challenges such as housing, education and employment. Maria shared the experiences, challenges and successes of the Kineara team in supporting households at risk of homelessness.
• Niamh Flannigan, Implementation Lead, Centre for Homelessness Impact, that works to improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness through better use of data and evidence. Niamh’s presentation focused on the systemic and interconnected causes, and contributing factors, of homelessness – the facts and figures, the costs, the rising numbers of people experiencing homelessness … and some of the solutions, including: strengthening data and evidence in new and developing homelessness strategies, growing the evidence base of ‘what does work’, and building a movement for change – challenging the negative stereotype of the depiction of people experiencing homelessness.
• Anna Crooks, Consultant at Curiosity Society, led a tenant-focused workshop around ‘Hearing Tenant Voices’: making space for tenants, to learn with them and help them to participate, through a Tenant Forum, so that they can directly share their experiences of living in the funds’ homes, and in doing so, help shape future direction of the funds.

The aim for these forums is always to get our expert housing partners together to discuss issues and solutions around housing and homelessness – along with the voices of like-minded organisations - and how best to serve the people the funds are providing housing for.

Amy Cripps, Head of Move On, St Mungo’s: “Meeting the other delivery providers is such a great opportunity to reflect on best practice, explore the shared challenges and successes across different regions.”

Beth Hendry, Director of Operations, Developing Health & Independence: “I appreciated meeting leads from other organisations and hearing about how they are implementing similar projects with you to meet their local needs. I also valued the opportunity to discuss and share our organisations aligned values and ambitions, this was very reassuring.”

About National Homelessness Property Fund 2

This fund was created in December 2020 in response to the growing need for affordable housing, providing safe and decent homes for people in housing crisis. Initially, the fund’s focus was on providing homes in the Greater Manchester region but has since expanded into Bristol, Oxford, Merseyside and London.

As of September 2024, the fund has a total of 355 properties in its portfolio and has housed just under 500 people across the UK.