We cannot miss the chance to level up Supported Housing
The Centre for the New Midlands has just responded to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee Inquiry into exempt accommodation. This appeal for evidence was called after a wide range of stakeholders, including elected members from across the political spectrum, expressed concern that “unscrupulous landlords were failing to provide the support and care […]
Power to local people: how community business can achieve Levelling Up
In the 2019 election, the Conservatives won a number of seats based on their promises to “level up” parts of the country, by reducing the disparity in regional growth. In doing so, their ambition was to restore “local pride” in places that had been “left behind”. In anticipation of the Levelling Up White Paper […]
Being Missed or Missing Out? How do our current practices around rough sleeping impact on women?
Rough sleeping, and the imperative to reduce immediately visible homelessness, has been a clear priority of the current and previous Conservative governments; something policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have thrown into sharper focus. Whilst in no way underestimating or underplaying the scale of the injustices that create our rough sleeping ‘crisis’, this […]
Forget mapping the change – change the map
In this article, Charles Rapson (Midlands Director of the School for Social Entrepreneurs) argues that the time has come to stop ‘mapping the change’ across society, but to redraw the map! The region, and the country more broadly, needs to do things differently if it is to deliver fundamental change across society. Could […]
“The campaign to end the cladding scandal is not party political. It is about doing what is morally right”
In this article, Paula Shalloo (Member of the Steering Committee for Birmingham Leaseholder Action Group ‘BrumLAG’) provides an overview of an emerging national scandal, which is destroying the lives of millions across the country. The situation is complex; the price tag of fixing the properties is astronomical – but how can it be right that […]
Engage men earlier – BEFORE the point of crisis
In recent years, Mental Health and Wellbeing have become much more prominent themes across our lives and broader society, but yet suicide is still the biggest killer of men under the age of 50 . In this article, Julie Bentley (CEO, Samaritans) introduces ‘five key principles’ on which anyone designing, running, or commissioning wellbeing groups for men should consider […]
The ‘Terraced Melting Pot’ – Moving the regional economy forward
In 1996, Paul Baker jointly launched Vector Research, and after 25 years of delivering a suite of work for literally hundreds of clients is ‘hanging up his audio recorder and boxing up the clipboards’. Given that a high proportion of those projects were in the West Midlands, Paul uses this article to reflect on an […]
A brief history of house-building: what can we learn?
In the first of a two part series for the Centre for the New Midlands, Dr. Steve McCabe provides a brief history of house-building in the UK and considers what we can we learn from the recent past. The second part of the series will consider the types of radical interventions which could enhance and […]
Student loans convertible into house deposits – a reformed Student Loans system that puts regional graduate retention at its heart
The review of post-18 education and funding in England led by Philip Augar and published in May 2019, now seems like a lifetime ago. The landscape within which Higher Education operates has fundamentally changed and the Government will have to try to rebalance the books post pandemic (as and when that might be). However, students […]
How do we support the ‘financially fragile’ if the welfare system is not fit for purpose and the public purse is not a bottomless pit?
Citizens Advice estimates that 6 million people have fallen behind on their bills and that 12 million are now ‘financially fragile’ across the UK. In this article, Kate Algate (CEO, Coventry Citizens Advice) explores who COVID-19 has hit the hardest and what could be done to support and catch those who are falling through […]