Refurbishment

The Supported Housing Unit is in need of general refurbishment and re-fitting due to operational changes.

Refurbishment

Friends First has been opening its doors to the homeless and marginalised of Brighton and Hove for the last six years.  Inevitably, within a 12 person community with a staff team of 7, there has been some ‘wear and tear’ over the years!

The house is in dire need of new furniture for our communal living space, furniture for our ‘quiet room’ and staff meeting area, furniture for each of our 12 bedrooms and the replacement of general fixtures and fittings throughout the whole building.

We have enlisted the help of the local church and ex-residents in helping out with decoration and odd items here and there but our wish is to provide an environment that is not simply ‘OK’ but one that is homely, warm, welcoming, well maintained and to a high standard.

Operational Changes

The economic downturn and recent cuts to our statutory funding have caused us to look at the way we operate and how we might streamline not only our budget but also our staffing resources. 

How, in the current climate, do we continue to provide our existing high level of service, keep our staff team intact, but also see growth in key areas, provide a high standard of environment and maximise staff input?

The Friends First house has, for the last 6 years, been staffed 24hrs a day. By dropping a staff presence from 11pm-8am we will reduce our running costs and push staff time back into waking hours.

In order to maintain a safe environment and respond to resident concerns we have decided to install a small, 2 camera motion sensitive CCTV system, a key-fob door entry system and have door locks that link with our fire alarm system. It’s a bit of an irony, but we will have to spend money in order to save money.

The safety of the residents and the ‘feel’ of the community living space are central to everything that we aim to do.  If people are to be open, vulnerable, heal from past hurts and engage in positive activity they must feel safe.

As the staff team will not be covering the sleeping shift we will be more able to allocate resources to specialist project work, resettlement support and all but eliminate lone working. 

Residents will live in an environment closer to that which they will be moving onto; there will be an increased responsibility but also an increased access to staff time.