North Ayrshire Fab Pad

North Ayrshire Fab Pad is a partnership project between Cunninghame Housing Association and Impact Arts to assist up to 30 excluded 16-35 year olds with no or failing natural support structures to sustain housing tenancies and secure training and job opportunities. Established in March 2004, over the past 4 years the project has offered young people the opportunity to work with an interior designer to get the ideas, and learn the skills necessary, to turn this new flat or house into a home.

Progress

North Ayrshire Fab Pad can reduce the risk of the tenancy breaking down, providing a platform from which the young people can stabilise their lives and take positive steps forward to secure, training, educational or employment opportunities.

During 2006/2007, 73 referrals were made to the project. Three quarters were female, young people aged 16 – 25 accounted for 47% of the group and a further 33% were aged less than 35. 17 positive education, training or employment outcomes were achieved during the year and 90% of participants also sustained their housing tenancies during the year.

Social Return On Investment Pilot

CHA were invited to participate in a Social Return on Investment Pilot following an invitation from Communities Scotland Social Economy Unit. The pilot project was attempting to investigate a new method of measuring in monetary terms the value of the social, community and environmental impacts, produced – in this case by the North Ayrshire Fab Pad project in 2006/2007. This method, known as Social Return on Investment, was developed in the United States as a way of combining economic, social and other results from investment into one index.  For every £1 that has been invested in an activity, the approach allows an organisation to measure the value in pounds of the Social Return created.

The impact map constructed for North Ayrshire Fab Pad showed that a range of impacts were created, which included:

• Reductions in repeat homelessness
• Reduced tenancy support costs
• Improved health and well-being of participants and greater family stability
• Reduced agency support
• Increased training and employment opportunities
• Movement into the local labour market.

On the basis of the 16 financial indicators which were used in the study to measure these impacts, the SROI study concluded that for every £1 that has been invested in the North Ayrshire Fab Pad project, a social return on investment of £8.38 has been realised. The analysis demonstrates notional savings to central government, social landlords, public sector bodies, individuals and wider society.

Sheila Durie of Haldane Associaties, who conducted the SROI analysis, concluded that the results represent a strong business case for landlords to involve Fab Pad in supporting their tenants at the start of their tenancy, as it can now be demonstrated there would be benefits to landlords arising from reduced tenancy turnover and anti-social behaviour, and an increased ability of tenants to meet rental obligations.

Download the Impact Arts Fab Pad SROI Report  (PDF 727kb)

Contact Details

Further information on North Ayrshire Fab Pad can be obtained from:-

Hugh McGhee
Regeneration Manager
Community Regeneration Unit
Michael Lynch Centre for Enterprise
71 Princes Street
Ardrossan
KA22 8DG

Tel: 01294 606045

Email: hmcghee@chaltd.org

Funders Acknowledgements

Cunninghame Housing Association would like to acknowledge the support of our funding partners without whom the continued delivery of our North Ayrshire programme would not be possible :

• North Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership
• North Ayrshire Council Homeless Strategy monies