Quaker Housing Trust Alison Crane Trustee Housing our

Quaker Housing Trust Alison Crane, Trustee

Housing – our spiritual concern Though the materials we work with are bricks and mortar and money, our concern is for people. And though people have pressing material needs in the world, our concern is with Spirit. “We cannot sit down and be devotional while acquiescing in conditions which make it impossible for other souls even to obey the moral law” Douglas Steere

Housing – our spiritual concern Ø Part of our social witness and testimony to equality Ø QHT began in 1967 as a response to homelessness and poor housing conditions We are a Quaker body, giving Quaker money on behalf of Quakers, to social housing projects we believe Friends would wish to support

A practical response – our approach Ø Grants or loans for capital costs to create new homes or improve the quality of provision Ø Good practice grants – Health check service – Feasibility studies – Environmental assessment – Dissemination of good practice Ø Trustees-in-Touch Ø Quaker Social Housing Account

Eligibility for Funding Applicant organisations must: Ø Have charitable status and operate within Great Britain Ø Be a small organisation with limited funds Ø Meet a real housing need Ø Let homes at a realistic rent that is genuinely affordable

Supporting Friends’ housing concern Ø Speaking at events and running workshops Ø Supporting Friends to get involved locally Ø Working with other churches Ø Publications

Current applicants At the last meeting of trustees, we were able to help the following projects: Ø Two almshouse charities – one new build and one refurbishing their properties Ø Supported housing for single homeless men Ø Feasibility study considering options for safe houses for victims of human trafficking

Current applicants We are working with the following projects to see whether we may be able to help: Ø Move-on accommodation for people with addictions Ø Supported housing for brain-injured people Ø Supported housing for young homeless Ø Community Land Trust wanting to provide affordable housing in an expensive part of the country

How you can help QHT Ø Encourage local housing projects to apply for funding Ø Consider becoming a trustee Ø Open a Triodos Quaker Social Housing Account Ø Make a loan to QHT Ø Make a donation/raise money as a Meeting Ø Make a donation as an individual

Contributions might come from Ø An inherited property Ø Surplus from selling a house Ø Un-needed winter fuel allowance Ø Savings in fuel bills from well-insulated homes or renewable energy Ø Difference in mortgage payments if interest rates drop Ø Interest on a Building Society account

Housing as a concern – Yearly Meeting 2015 Ø Jenny Brierley’s prepared ministry Ø BYM Minute 25 Immediate outcomes from Yearly Meeting: Ø Threshing Meeting Ø QPSW funding policy post at Housing Justice

Since Yearly Meeting Strands from threshing meeting: Ø Positive investment in sustainable housing Ø Ethical landlordism and tenants’ rights Ø Awareness raising – Sharing good practice – Making new allies and partnerships Ø How much space do we need? – Practical and emotional support for downsizing or consideration of sharing space

Since Yearly Meeting Outcomes from “Roadmaps to Equality” conference: Ø Encourage every AM to hold a workshop enabling Quakers to take action to ameliorate locally the impact of housing inequality. Ø Provide practical and emotional support for Quakers in large houses to downsize or take in lodgers. Ø Set up an ethical landlords/landladies association to improve private renting. Ø Create a lobbying mass movement to empower every Quaker to at least write to their MP on housing issues.

Since Yearly Meeting London Housing Conference: Ø Housing and inequality Ø Concerns about right to buy Ø Ethical Landlords Association Ø Working with other churches Ø Homelessness Ø Lobbying

“We need both to examine our own lives and to seek to influence public policy to support equality. The problem is not an insoluble one and our voices can be heard” Minute 25 BYM May 2015