HomeLab

Integrated Housing and Labour Services in the Social Rental Enterprise Model

bajomianna

Households will move from shacks to mobile homes in Budapest

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Thanks to social investors and charity donations, the From Streets to Homes Association bought a plot in Budapest, where settlement of mobiles homes has just started in January 2018. Another land is to be purchased as soon as the association found an ideal-one. The mobile homes provide safe, long-term and affordable rental housing for households who previously lived in shacks. The second hand (thus much cheaper) homes will be adapted to the Hungarian climate (thus receive isolation) and will be connected to the water, sewage and electric network.  The rent payed by the new clients of ULE will provide a possibility to enlarge the mobile-home stock of the association.

 

 

HomeLab clients in Slovakia moving out from segregated settlement to take a job-opportunity!

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4 clients of PIN living in Kojatice, a village in Eastern-Slovakia, 45 km north from Kosice, moved to West-Slovakian town, Nitra, where they have started to work at a company which produces LG televisions. Another client, unfortunately, failed the entrance exam of the job, due to the lack of reading and writing skills. Social worker of PiN is communicating on a daily basis with the clients and their coordinator at work. The coordinator visits the new workers in the workers’ hostel where they stay and provides them advice as well (e.g. regarding bank accounts).

According to the coordinator in the starting period the work there was some lack in personal hygiene of the clients but otherwise, they were very handy and diligent, thus their boss has been satisfied so far with their work. The company made possible for them to work the same shift. They learnt to speak in better-formulated Slovak, they enjoy their work, feel useful and are happy that there is hot water, toilet and kitchen in the hostel, where they can sleep in their own bed – comfort they cannot enjoy in their illegal dwellings home settlement in Kojatice.

Many other clients of PIN from this village become motivated by the example of the first 4 persons, so they are willing to move for similar job-opportunity, but most of them, especially the generation born between 1984 and 1986 are lacking literacy skills, one of them finished school at 4 grade of elementary school. Though, 4 new clients now receive special training for the job interview.

Article on HomeLab at Housing Futures blog

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An article, as the first part of a series of posts on the HomeLab project, has been published on the  Housing Futures blog, which is an international online platform on housing strategies for cities around the globe. The piece, titled “Integrated Housing Programs for Vulnerable Households in Central-Eastern Europe“, presents how the HomeLab project tests integrated service provision in the fields of housing, employment and social services, in the framework of the Social Rental Enterprise model in the so-called Visegrad Four (V4) countries: Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

 

A case of a Romodrom client.

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In the following weeks we are going to publish short case studies to illustrate how the HomeLab pilots are working in practice. At this time, Romodrom provided as a short resume how one of their clients’ housing and employment situation was improved.

The client contacted the organisation for the first time at the beginning of the year 2017. He looked for an accommodation after his release from prison and expressed the will to find a job too. He also had to solve his debt situation.

Within a month after his release, the social workers succeeded to find him a place in the Hostel in K. (see picture). The principle of the stay in the hostel is an intensive cooperation with the social service focused on the stabilization of the client’s income. The client shall be able to pay himself for his living costs during the period of three months.

Romodrom’s partner in the field of employment is a logistic company Serena Logistic. The client was prepared for the job interview and thanks to his strong motivation and previous experience he obtained a well paid job as a driver. His income enables him to pay off the debts and cover the living costs.

As the client has a stable job he started to be able to look for a standard living. Social workers from Romdorom in cooperation with the client found a standard rental housing in Pardubice. The client moved there and is able to live an independent life.

 

The Social Rental Enterprise model at the conference on housing exclusion co-organized by Commissioner for Human Rights and Habitat for Humanity Poland

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Deinstitutionalization and homelessness prevention were the main topics of a conference co-organized by Commissioner for Human Rights and Habitat for Humanity Poland on 5th October 2017. The conference has been part of the work of the Commission of Experts for Counteracting Homelessness appointed by the Commissioner and gathering experts and practitioners.

The aim of the conference was to share best practices in housing-based methods of overcoming homelessness crisis and call for establishing a country-level system that could spread them. Many progressive local governments and organisations have found its way to create interdisciplinary and integrated support using various resources such as social housing companies (TBS), supported housing and new forms of social assistance.

Habitat Poland presented the model of Social Rental Enterprise based on provision of integrated housing and employment services. SRE differs from other solutions as it provides the housing stock from the private rental market and introduces the role of Social Rental Manager responsible both for technical management and social work with the tenant. The National Director of Habitat Poland presented the origin of the model and positive outcomes that have already been delivered i.e. in Belgium and Great Britain. The Advocacy Manager of Habitat Poland introduced the Polish pilot of Social Rental Enterprise within the HomeLab project and commented on its first outcomes.

 

HomeLab Information Day at Tarnabod

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As part of the pilot project of HCSOM Veszprém, young people from the disadvantaged village of Tarnabod will be supported to move to prosperous city of Veszprém. As a start of the action, an information day was held in Tarnabod, in the local study hall – which is maintained by HCSOM – at 10:00 AM on 27.07.2017. The event – venue and participants – was organised by a local social worker.

The map of Tarnabod. Photo: Attila Lendvai-Frikkel (HCSOM, Veszprém

At the first program point, László Moravcsik, the project manager of project HomeLab briefly explained the essence of HomeLab and why they are there.

Attila Lendvai-Frikkel – HomeLab coworker – described to the audience two potencial employers in Veszprém and the work conditions they offer.  One was Pannontej – (cheese diary), the other was JOST – a company engaged in the production of lorry parts. A film presenting the jobs to be filled by the future candidates at JOST was also presented. Attila also described the housing and social support possibilities, provided by VESZOL and HCSOM in Veszprém.

The 17 people attending the event, after  listing to the presentations, asked questions and expressed concerns about three main topics: location, unfair labour mediator companies and unsecured housing.

The main concerns were:

  • Significant geographical distance and too few occasions to visit home – especially for people with large families. For these people, to go home in every two months is not enough, however, young couples and beginners are delighted with that.
  • There were precedents, that labour mediator companies terminated the contract right before the end of the 3 months probation. At this point the HomeLab representatives drew the audience’s attention to the fact that Malta has proven itself in several places, including Tarnabod and Veszprém, so no one will be sent home without cause.
  • Unsecure housing, which can be solved by workers hostel and – if it is possible – rental apartments.

As next step, the local social worker will asses the number of the people who are interested in this project. Then, a trip will be organised for the candidates to Veszprém, where they can meet the employers and also can visit the town and the accommodation possibilities. The interested candidates will sign the memorandum of understanding, fill in the baseline questionnaire of the project and sign the cooperation agreement. After the formal documentation, they can join the project HomeLab and hopefully move to Veszprém for their new job.

SEMINAR ON THE APPLICATION OF THE SOCIAL RENTAL ENTERPRISE (SRE) MODEL – JUNE 19-21, 2017 – BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

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In the framework of the HomeLab project a short, two-day long seminar was hosted by MRI exploring the development and possible application of the SRE model in Hungary and Greece. The Greek partner present was Gabriel Amitsis, Social Security Law Professor at the Athens University of Applied Sciences. Housing Europe facilitated the organisation of the seminar, and Edit Lakatos, the policy officer in charge of facilitating the event was present.

In the framework of the seminar two short field trips were conducted – one to visit the social housing experiment of Veszprém headed by the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, a HomeLab partner – and one to visit the innovative housing service provided by ULE (From Street to Home Association – another HomeLab partner) that focuses on providing social, housing and employment services to homeless people.

The lessons from the field trips were debated at the premises of MRI, as well as possible ways of cooperation were discussed.
Read more a detailed report on the seminar at Housing Europe’s site

HomeLab on Housing Europe’s website

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Housing Europe, a member of HomeLab’s Dissemination Board, recently informed housing researchers and professionals about the project in an article published on its website. Launched on October 1st, 2016 the “HomeLab – Integrated Housing and Labour Services in the Social Rental Enterprise model” is a project supported by the European Union’s Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (”EaSI”). Carried out under the leadership of Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI), the project aims at promoting the social and labour market integration of vulnerable groups through the horizontal integration of individualised case handling in employment, housing and social support, in the framework of implementing the Social Rental Enterprise (SRE) model.