Scheme to give unemployed and homeless a future
A new initiative is giving the unemployed and homeless a new chance by offering construction work experience in a building-site setting, while bringing empty houses back into use. Ruth Mosalski went along to see the difference it is making in people’s liv
THERE are around 18,000 homes in Wales which are lying empty and unfurnished.
Councils have long waiting lists of people needing a home, homeless people sleep on our streets and young people are renting longer as they struggle to get on the housing ladder.
Now a new scheme aims to get homes back on the market while helping disadvantaged people gain skills that will get them a job.
There are a couple of houses being done up as I pull into a housing estate in Merthyr. It’s tea-break time inside and there’s a group sat chatting. Four weeks ago, they didn’t know each other.
They are aged between 20 and 56, five are unemployed, one is homeless, some have been out of work for months, some want a new career.
Together they are working to bring what was an empty house back to life.
The idea of the Community Impact Initiative (CII) is that by getting local people involved it can rejuvenate communities, reduce reoffending rates, improve employment rates and give first-time buyers a chance to get on the property ladder.
Rather than learning about plastering, painting or installing a bathroom from a book or in a classroom, the people taken on will learn from experienced builders Dai and Matthew in the house.
Dai has 30 years’ experience, having started as an apprentice at 17.
The way young people get into building jobs now has changed and is much harder than in his day, he says.
Trystan Jones is the director of the scheme. “This is the experience they don’t get anywhere else,” he explains.
The benefits aren’t just getting a house back in use, it’s giving people confidence and new skills and making them more employable, says Trystan. The house they refurbish will be put on the market, sold, and any profit put back into the pot to do the same thing all over again.
Dai and Trystan bought this house at auction for £50,000 in July. Specialist plumbers and electricians checked it over before it was gutted. Then the CII team moved in.
Trystan approached local agencies, groups and homeless hostels to get a team together. There are now six core members who are working on the house. Dai describes Adrian as a star. Aged 56, he’s worked in factories, for Remploy and in a nursing home, but he’d never thought of giving this a go – and he’s proud as punch to share a video of him pulling down the old kitchen ceiling.
He spends Monday and Tuesday mornings on the site, and has English and Welsh lessons later in the week.
Adrian, who lives in a Merthyr Valleys home, saw the scheme advertised online.
“This is the only way I would have got a go at this,” he admits.
Lisa is a mum-of-four from Nelson. She’s currently a cleaner, but wants to give something else a go.
“My husband saw this on Facebook and I thought, ‘Why not?’ I haven’t got any skills and I’m nearly 40.
“I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but I have loved learning,” she said. “I don’t want to be cleaning forever,” she said.
Plastering is the thing she likes best, so much so that at the weekend she bought some second-hand tools at a car-boot sale.
She thinks this is the best type of training.
“If you go to a building site, you’d be a labourer forever and you don’t get taught. On the second day I was here, I was up there plastering.
“Never did I think I’d be doing this. I never thought I’d be spending my weekend buying tools.”
Nathan, 20, has completed a two-year carpentry course at Merthyr College. At training college, any practical experience is in a classroom setting; here, he not only gets to practice, but sees it making a difference.
“In college, it’s lots of theory, which is really hard, and that puts some people off,” he said. “I just wanted to crack on with it. Being here has given me a bit of confidence.”
He’s been job-hunting since he finished at college in May, but with no luck, and he is keen to work.
“It’s been boring just house,” he said.
Kristian, 24, completed a carpentry course at Ystrad College. He had been working with a friend who has now moved away, so Kristian has been out of work since January. He’s applied for more than 10 jobs, but with no luck.
“I have been looking for jobs and done a few courses, but this is building my confidence up a bit and gives me more of a chance to get a job. This is a new chance.”
As well as the confidence, they have been drawn to the scheme by the prospect of getting a CCS card – the card anyone needs to work on a construction site.
Matthew and Dai both say they wanted a way to pass on their skills and this scheme allows them to do just that.
Matthew says: “They could get a job themselves but with the skills we’re teaching, it gives them a head start.” sitting in the