Problem addressed

• There are currently 274,000 people without homes in England
• This will increase by a third by 2024
• There are hundreds of thousands of vacant buildings in the UK (617,000 in 2019 – 70% of these are residential (445,000))
• Britain saw the biggest rise in vacant shops in over two decades late last year and the sharpest increase in empty offices since the financial crisis, highlighting how the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the economy, at least temporarily
• We saw how empty hotels have been used to temporality house people experiencing homelessness
• The idea seeks to find and transform vacant buildings post the pandemic to provide temporary accommodation in the same way
• In London there are 10,200 vacant houses owned by local authorities
• Propose to pilot idea in London Borough of Newham as it has the highest rate of homelessness and the second highest rate of vacant properties of the London councils
• Providing temporary accommodation has the potential to realise significant social impact value – estimated at around £16,000 per person helped. If applied across the UK, that’s a social value impact of nearly £4bn.  

Solution overview

‘Stories in Spaces’ is comprised of built environment experts bringing landlords and charities together to find, repurpose & optimise vacant spaces to support people experiencing homelessness.

It wants to change the narrative around vacant buildings. Over a building’s lifecycle its purpose does not have to remain the same. It is not a ‘once a shop, always a shop’ scenario. The stories of the buildings, and the people that use them, evolve and we want to help continue these stories by helping others.

• The idea is based on a circular model
• It works with landlords to identify spaces that can be repurposed to provide temporary accommodation
• It manages the re-purposing of vacant buildings into habitable, safe, secure and stable spaces
• The vacant building is then habitable
• Partners will work with charities who are then able to:
  • Find suitable tenants for fixed periods (e.g. 6 months)
  • Provide the opportunity to upskill tenants
• Tenants are then able to leave the safe environment better qualified, healthier and with a network
• The building is then vacant again and available for new tenants

To start with, this idea will be piloted with one council, using one council-owned building. Stories in Spaces has identified Newham Council for the pilot due to its high levels of homelessness and vacant buildings.

Council buildings were originally built to serve the wider community – this campaign maintains the purpose and integrity of these buildings.

Two potential buildings that could be used for the pilot scheme have been identified:

• Former Canning Town Library, 103 Barking Road
• The Hub, 123 Star Lane

Impact

Stories and Spaces impact:

• Support building preservation and prevent dereliction and demolition – S&S Identify and lead the repurposing and maintenance of empty buildings. This prevents dereliction and demolition of buildings and maintains existing embodied carbon. Stories and Spaces want to continue the story of buildings through their preservation.
• Reducing homelessness – in the first year, Stories and Spaces estimates it can support provision of temporary accommodation for around 20 people through opening one building. This has a major impact on health, wellbeing and safety of guests. This is a scalable model – over five years, the number of buildings in the portfolio will increase, accompanied by an increase in the number of people we can support.
• Significant social impact – using existing social impact calculators, we estimate the social impact value of supporting 20 guests in the first year to be around £320,000 (e.g. increased employment, reduced impact on health services, reduced people on benefits)

Benefits

Stories in spaces is a scalable initiative which addresses key social issues:

• In the first year:
  • Start with a pilot project working with one council (London Borough of Newham) and one building – estimate support capacity of 20 people
  • Workshops would be held with the existing councils and prospective councils, as well as with charity links, to share our findings and successes and to identify and agree the next location to support
• In the first five years:
  • Building on the success of the pilot project, look to add an additional building to the portfolio every year (either in the same council or elsewhere).
  • Using the same original estimates of supporting 20 people per year per building, after five years we could have supported 300 people (social value impact of ~ £4.8m)
  • Using data and experience from the first few years working with councils, we will look to engage with private landlords
• Five years plus – continue steady opening of new buildings each year and seek to expand to work with private landlords
• Stories in Spaces helps communities to preserve the history of buildings and continue the stories of how buildings are used, as well as supporting those in the local community with their own past and future stories to tell.
• Although not working directly with guests, charities would be able to offer the opportunity for guests to learn new skills and work in the community. Guests would then be able to upskill, gain work experience and potentially support local community initiatives.

Guests would have a safe, private, secure space to live. They will have the potential to gain new skills and leave the space better qualified. Guests have the ability to then move to more permanent accommodation.