“I welcome the establishment of Stonham Housing Association… it will strengthen the … voluntary movement for the provision of accommodation and support for offenders and ex-offenders. It will, therefore, help to reduce the need for recourse to imprisonment.”
Roy (Lord) Jenkins, Home Secretary, 1976 (1920-2003)
Stonham was formed in 1976 by the merger of three small, regional supported housing associations, Bridgehead Housing Association, St. Leonard’s Housing Association and South West Midlands Housing Association; all dedicated to providing accommodation for ex-offenders. As the quote from the then Home Secretary above indicates, this merger was carried out with the active support and encouragement of central government. It produced a body that managed some 500 beds. All of these beds were focused on ex-offenders.
Today, Stonham provides for the full range of people with special support needs. Nowadays, around 75% of our services are devoted to client groups other than ex-offenders. Stonham joined the Home Group in 1997 and became a full division of Home in July 2004.
Changes in the organisation
Stonham has seen many changes since 1976. The early managers of Stonham had worked very much on the basis of local activism and management and this continued until the mid 1990’s. This local involvement and voluntary support led to the establishment of many of the schemes that form the bedrock of our residential services today. However, there were no consistently applied national standards and financial control was difficult to achieve. Yet at the same time, Stonham was working with other Government departments to take on responsibility for new areas of provision in recognition of the good work being delivered on the ground.
As Stonham grew, the need for consistent standards and better financial control became imperative particularly as the funding environment became much tighter. Over the last 30 years we have seen Care in the Community, changes in income support for our tenants, Hostel Deficit Grant, Special Needs Management Allowances, Transitional Special Needs Management Allowances and now Supporting People, along with changes in responsibility for monitoring and funding provision across the Home Office, Housing Corporation and Local Authorities.
With support from Home, which Stonham joined in 1997, as well as from the Housing Corporation, our position is now transformed with a much sounder financial position and almost 90% of our bed spaces meeting the ‘Decent homes’ standard. This has only been achieved by the immense commitment of our staff, our Board members and Home to make Stonham the leading provider of support to vulnerable people. ‘Supporting People’ is still developing with many challenges to come but Stonham is confident that it can continue to provide valuable services that strengthen local communities.
Changes in the sector
Over the years, supported housing associations like Stonham have moved away from doing everything for residents of their services to giving residents the ‘tools’ to lead their own lives and make their own choices. Our research suggests that over 70% of our service users need help with life skills such as literacy and numeracy. Our staff work with service users to enable them to take part in day-to-day activities alongside their local communities.
Today, we now also provide floating support to clients in their own accommodation rather than just to those for whom we also provide their home. Such a move reflects the evolving needs of our clients and enables many of them to maintain their place in the local community whilst benefiting from the support our staff can provide.
As the sector has developed in size, scope and expertise, the degree of campaigning has reduced but it still remains an important activity, helping to ensure that our clients are able to access the type of services they need, where and when they need them. Specific needs may change but if society is to tackle deep-rooted social issues, services that seek to integrate and equip people for participation in our communities will be needed for many years to come.