London Housing Foundation
Blog Posts
The Life of a Peer LandlordAugust 8, 2014 12:00 pmThames Reach’s Peer Landlord scheme has been shortlisted for the Andy Ludlow Awards 2014. The ‘peer landlord’ is a co-tenant with a shared background who has gained a level of independence and experience and who is able to act as a positive role model. The idea, according to Director of Operations Bill Tidnam is “to provide supportive housing, not just supported housing.”
Seyi Cole is one of the Peer Landlords who help run the scheme. We asked him to tell us about his experience.
“I experienced some difficulties with my family, moved into a Thames Reach shared house and started getting my life back together. Then after two years there was a vacancy for the peer landlord role and I was asked to consider it. I wasn’tRead More
Working with Asylum Seekers: the ASAP storyAugust 3, 2014 12:00 pmI worry we are in dark times, with an increasing obsession with the self and a lack of empathy for those in need.
I see this best played out in the media’s portrayal of the “other” or as Katie Hopkins would put it “those aggressive young men at Calais spreading like the norovirus”.
Those young men are people, trying to be human.
They are in search of safety and ultimately a life.
We do not choose where we are born, the children I see getting put on rickety boats in the med could be my child, it is only chance that separates us.
“I never chose to be here and to be an asylum seeker. But London is my home now” ASAP client
At the Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP) we work with people who have come to theRead More
Union Chapel: Church, Music Venue and Training Centre.July 17, 2014 12:00 pmThe Union Chapel in Highbury and Islington is a stunning building. It can hold 900 people and when I wandered around it last week I could sense the inspiration that must have been felt by those attending in the church’s heyday. 900 people singing hymns with the perfect acoustics the building provides must have been quite an experience.
Nowadays the congregation is active and growing but small, and has handed over the management of the building to the Union Chapel Project – a charity. . They maintain the building and run a series of very successful gigs throughout the year. In fact in 2012 they were named the best venue in London by Time Out and this year named London’s favourite music venue at the Mayor’s London Music Awards.Read More
