Ekaya Housing Association

1
Ekaya Housing Association

• Patricia Reid
• Supported Service Manager

2
Mission Statement

• Ekaya aims to provide good quality affordable
  housing to meet the housing and support needs of
  its client group of black and ethnic minority
  women and their families.

3
Our Services

• We provide
• Permanent housing
• Supported housing to young mothers and their
  babies Total 56 units
• Floating support 53 clients across 3 boroughs
• Nursery provision- 49 spaces

4
Mother and Baby Projects

• Maximum of 6-8 bed spaces
• Good quality affordable housing
• High standard of staffing support
• Staffing that reflects client group
• Home from Home homely environment
• Minimumsafe warm environment
• Primarily for BME women, but provide TP project
  for non BME in Greenwich

5
The service our clients receive

• Needs Assessment/support planning
• Life Skills
• Emotional Support
• Social Skills
• Parenting skills
• Education/Childcare
• Monitoring the service
• A say in how we run our service

6
Boroughs in which we operate

• 5 different boroughs- 5 different contracts- 5
  different supporting people strategies
• Lambeth
• Lewisham
• Southwark
• Greenwich
• Wandsworth

7
The introduction of a new funding regime

• Working in partnership
• SP Shadow Strategy
• Contracts
• Service reviews
• Monitoring

8
Benefits of supporting people

• Accountability
• National quality standards
• Outcome focused
• Culturally Specific Service
• Evidence of demand

9
Issues for BME Housing Associations

• Value for money
• Strategic Relevance
• Reviews
• Cultural specific
• Valuing our input

10
Funding Issues

• Shortfall in funding
• Valuing services- same costs different
  interpretation of value
• Small associations cannot make the necessary cuts
  if only providing one service with one staff

11
Strategic Relevance

• Difficult to ascertain strategic relevance due to
  lack of information on BME users and issues.
• Conception/Abortion rates
• Linking into other strategies
• What happened to capacity builders

12
Reviews and Monitoring

• Long winded
• Administrative burden
• Double Monitoring
• Is this useful information
• Concerns that BME issues will be lost in the
  drive for efficiency, or will become mainstream

13
Cultural Specific

• Cultural specific Service
• How do you quantify and Value

14
Quotes from Ekaya Residents

• Gemma
• Since being here I have learned how to budget
  my money, how to take care of my daughter and I
  feel better about myself. I am calmer and more
  confident and I am glad to be with Ekaya
• Shenaiye
• Its a good experience. Ekaya really supports
  you.
• If you want to go back to college they do a
  step by step plan. They give a lot of advice and
  they are always there for you