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Nacro in Action

Young People’s Project, Coventry

Nacro Housing’s young people’s project in Coventry provides self-contained accommodation for vulnerable young people aged 16-24. Project staff support young tenants in developing independent living skills and accessing education and training with the aim of enabling them to move on to their own, permanent tenancy.

As one tenant said: ‘I was luck to get in here. I’ve had help with everything that I need. They’ve taught me loads of things, even things I didn’t know about myself. They’re like a second mum, but a good one.’

Finding somewhere to live is one of the major problems faced by ex-offenders. The links between homelessness and offending are well established, and good quality housing plays a vital part in helping prisoners resettle into society and in reducing the likelihood of people becoming involved in crime.

Nacro’s housing association, Nacro Community Enterprises, has over 30 years' experience of setting up and running housing projects. We currently house over 1,300 ex-offenders and other vulnerable homeless people in self-contained flats, shared houses and hostels. Through our Resettlement Support Programme, we work with tenants to enable them to find and keep a place of their own, to develop practical living skills like budgeting, shopping, cooking, and to access education and training and find work.

Nacro has housing services in: London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Birmingham and the Black Country, Coventry, Staffordshire, Derby, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and North Wales.

We have developed and run specialist housing projects for:

Ex-offenders, including people coming directly from prison and those who have committed serious offences
Young people, including those who have been looked after by the local authority
People experiencing mental health difficulties
People at risk of harm from drugs and alcohol
Pregnant young women and vulnerable parents and their children

Nacro also runs and develops a range of housing-related services including:

Foyer schemes for young people, providing training and employment opportunities alongside housing and resettlement support
Flexible support packages ( ‘floating support’) for local authority or housing association tenants or those in lodgings
Family support projects
Mediation schemes to resolve disputes between neighbours
Housing advice services in the community and in prisons, and rent deposit schemes

‘When I came out of prison I was literally on the streets. I felt like the whole world was against me, like society wanted me to go back inside. What I like and respect about Nacro is that they treat you as an individual. They allow you to be you, and encourage you to realise and develop the skills you have.’ Graham, ex-offender

Graham had an unstable family life and spent time in care and then in and out of prison. Facing homelessness on release from his last sentence, he was offered a place in one of Nacro’s London housing projects. He has now been crime-free for three years.

For advice for ex-offenders about finding housing, contact helpline@nacro.org.uk

To find out more:

If you’ve got a welfare enquiry about help to find housing, or with disclosing convictions and other resettlement problems, please contact Nacro’s Resettlement Plus Helpline on (freephone) 0800 0181 259 or 020 7840 6464 or helpline@nacro.org.uk

To find out about Nacro services in your area, please refer to our directory which you can download from http://www.nacro.org.uk/about/directory/index.htm (services are listed by region and town on the back page)

To find out about developing new services, please contact dave.mccarthy@nacro.org.uk

Other Nacro Services:

	Resettling ex-offenders and prisoners		Mental health
	Education and employment		Youth crime
	Housing		Community safety
	Race and the criminal justice system