Emma attends new Action Group on Temporary Accommodation!

On 30th May Justlife hosted the first ever Temporary Accommodation Action Group in Brighton. It was attended by 25 people including people living in temporary accommodation, local councillors, support services, GP’s and mental health teams, accommodation providers, the local authority and Emma as a Justlife representative.In our recent report ‘The Journey Home’, Justlife made the recommendation that local areas start up action groups to help bring together those affected by temporary accommodation and work together on the challenges that are faced. Following a campaign by local residents, Brighton & Hove City Council asked Justlife to host and chair the group to consider challenges and look at potential solutions.The meeting was chaired by Simon from the Justlife team who laid out the purpose of the group, to facilitative an open environment to discuss issues and work together finding solutions and favourable outcomes, rather than pointing the fingers of blame. Emma said the first meeting was a success ‘It was a great positive meeting where everyone was invited to discuss the challenges faced by support services, people living in, or providing, this accommodation’.She went on to say ‘It was important to hear everyone’s point of view and it was a surprise for some of us to hear the different experiences in the group. It shows how important open dialogue is when discussing sensitive issues and it was great to see the willingness of the everyone to be open to sharing their concerns and work together to resolve them’The group will continue to meet monthly for the foreseeable future, and will continue to operate in a welcoming and engaging environment in a way that focusses on people, builds collaboration and supports innovation. We look forward to hearing more from Emma as the group develops.