SME News Northern Enterprise Awards 2023 / 40 Best Youth Community Housing Organisation 2023 Launched in 1999, Bedspace is a fully accredited housing organisation committed to transforming the lives of vulnerable people. Based in the North of England, it provides accommodation and tailored support for vulnerable young people across the UK and has transformed the lives of over 20,000 people to date. Bedspace’s goal is to create a foundation of improved wellbeing, valuable life skills, and a level of independence which can be built on in later life. This service goes far beyond simply putting a roof over someone’s head but is part of a long-term approach to support the individuals it works with. Bedspace considers the personal needs of each individual and provides them with the facilities and additional support services they require to ultimately achieve sustained independence. Bedspace operates as an intrinsic part of the communities it works with in the North West in Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, and Lancashire, Carlisle, and across Yorkshire. With 287 staff and growing, it specialises in providing support to 16- to 18-year-olds through tailored and bespoke service pathways to best suit each individual’s needs. Whether it is group living, supported tenancy, solo enhanced, or even emergency placement housing options, Bedspace is able to find a place in which its people will not only find safety and comfort, but also be able to thrive. The brilliant and hugely important work that Bedspace does is the result of a team dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable people. Each staff member at Bedspace, from support workers to administration officers and team leaders, genuinely cares about their work and are passionate about making a difference. The idea of togetherness is in the organisation’s DNA, and everyone within the company shares a common purpose: to transform lives. The excellence of Bedspace’s services has been recognised at several awards, including most recently the ‘Community Impact’ Award in the North West Business Desk Awards 2023, ‘Best Community Housing Organisation’ (2021 and 2022) in the Northern Enterprise Awards, ‘Best Vulnerable Persons Shelter & Support Provider’ and ‘Most Sustainable Independent Living Services’ in the 2019 Social Care Awards – alongside many more. These awards reflect its unwavering commitment to providing the best support possible through its services and staff. When the organisation first began in 1999, the team was set up to provide accommodation to asylum seekers, mainly in Blackpool. Since then, the passion that led to the creation of Bedspace has led to it developing its services to support a wide variety of vulnerable people including care leavers (typically aged 16 to 18) homeless families, and vulnerable adults. Bedspace also believes that support should go beyond providing accommodation. The organisation not only provides safe and appropriate housing, but also prioritises personalised and consistent support across all different types of challenges that someone may face. As well as receiving ongoing mental health support, all service users develop critical life skills that they need to live independently. For 11 years, Bedspace has worked with educational charity, ASDAN, to provide accredited skills in three key areas: learning, employment, and everyday living. This partnership with ASDAN is crucial to ensuring service users can work towards enjoying independence and wellbeing. In 2021, Bedspace was proud to award 200 ASDAN certificates to its service users. In the last three years, Bedspace has spent approximately £1 million supporting approximately 200 young people post 18. If not for its selffunding of support and accommodation, then these young people would be left unsupported and at risk of homelessness. Bedspace believes it is essential there’s not a cliff edge at 18 where vulnerable young people must fend for themselves. That’s why this year it created a charity, The Bedspace Trust (bedspacetrust.org), to raise funds to help vulnerable people post-18. With a host of exciting new projects and services underway, there is significant growth on the horizon for Bedspace. It is set to increase this number and bolster its property portfolio by 40%in the next three years, partnering with landlords in new regions and in turn creating more jobs across the country. To keep a pace with its rapid growth, it has committed to taking on 100 new staff members in the next two years. This means that the brilliant team at Bedspace will be able to support even more vulnerable people and expand in new and existing regions across the UK to transform more lives. To find out more, visit: https://www.bedspace.co.uk, or contact [email protected]. Contact: Nick Thornhill Company: Bedspace Resource Ltd
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