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Bill Palmer, a director of Fair Housing for Frome, invested a huge amount of time to develop a Homeshare scheme in Mendip. After a good deal of research and planning, Homeshare Mendip was launched in 2022 with Vince Tillman at the helm. Unfortunately, this coincided and was hampered by the Covid pandemic. Due to the obvious difficulties at this time, and the problems of safeguarding when this company was in its infancy, meant it was challenging to get it off the ground.
The fact that Frome is a small town, compared to other organisations that have evolved in a city environment, made it that much more difficult to grow. Although Homeshare Mendip did make some good matches, it wasn’t enough to keep the organisation going and in the following year, it folded.
Find out more about Homeshare UK
If you would like to help continue this project please contact us
In 2019 Fair Housing for Frome began working towards developing a Tiny Homes Community. After COVID restrictions forced the postponement of the sold-out Tiny Homes event at the Cheese & Grain, Frome in March 2020, the team spent the next twelve months re-grouping and expanding the project.
A webinar was held on the 20th March 2021, which was open to everyone who might be interested in building, buying or renting an affordable eco-friendly Tiny Home. Local people with an interest in community-led housing or just people who want to explore a less cluttered way of life could benefit from the session. Speakers include project workers Polly Lamb and Rory Supka, as well as Jackson Moulding from SNUG Homes in Bristol, and James Shorten – a Planning Consultant from TerraPermaGeo. Local artist Rebecca Brewin also talks about her progress in finishing her own Tiny Home here in Frome.
FHfF were encouraged by the fact that their public events attracted a number of people who are ‘hidden homeless’ in and around Frome and who felt that tiny housing would be helpful to them on either a short-term or a long-term basis.
Committed to exploring how tiny housing can alleviate the housing needs and aspirations of local people, the organisation set up the Frome Tiny Homes Action Group and developed awareness, support and partnerships via the Frome Tiny Homes Event.
The goal was to create genuinely affordable and environmentally sustainable housing, which would build community through shared outdoor spaces and facilities, supporting imaginative social enterprises and provide opportunities to develop skills through self-build or self-finishing.
If you would like to help to continue this project please contact us
Along with it’s sister in Wells, Zero Nights was open for a total of 9 nights and provided not only a safe warm place to sleep but also specialist support for moving off the streets.22 different people made use of the two shelters, all of whom were subsequently housed.
An unexpected outcome of Zero Nights was the degree to which it increased awareness and discussion of homelessness in the town. It provoked intense scrutiny and discussion in the press and on social media, with some Facebook posts reaching over 37,000 people.
38 local people trained as volunteer staff for the shelter, a Crowdfunder appeal quickly reached its target of £3000, and we were overwhelmed by donations of food, clothing and specialist services such as hairdressing or dog care: in some cases, too many to take up.
Local agencies Fair Frome, Routes, Mendip YMCA, The Bridge Café and the Community Police Team met together to help plan the scheme, and Elim Connect Centre provided professional housing advice services every night that the shelter was open
It was hoped that anyone in Frome with concerns about their housing would take this opportunity to connect with Fair Housing for Frome. They were particularly keen to reach out to local people who would not normally access advice services and might be ‘hidden homeless’ or vulnerably housed.
The bus provided a range of information related to housing and homelessness plus the opportunity to participate in the Frome Housing Survey and a chance to issues and concerns. There was a range of activities for children of all ages and some refreshments.
The survey asked people to tick boxes if they were concerned about their own housing, the housing of a friend or member of their family or had a general concern about housing and homeless; 88 out of 141 people ticked one of these.
Following two pilot events in 2018, FHfF set up the Frome Landlords Association (FLA), this aimed to provide training and information for landlords, create a forum for information-sharing, collaboration and cooperation, promote a better public understanding and image of private landlords, support prospective landlords, foster positive relationships between tenants and landlords, and help landlords understand and address the housing crisis in Frome.
The project reached 40 landlords and has now become the Frome Renting Alliance.
We sent out monthly newsletters to our regular supporters, which reached over 350 in number, and engaged over fifty local people as volunteers for our various projects and initiatives.
We had strong working links with local agencies, town, district and county councillors and attended regional and national events including Mendip District Council, Shelter; Trafford Hall.
Fair Housing for Frome met with, and listened to hundreds of local residents in a variety of ways including a local housing survey. See above.
Providing information – we produced leaflets on homeless, renters, landlords and lodgers, established a housing noticeboard at Frome Library and a website.
FHfF had over 18 articles in the local press, 3 local radio appearances, and facebook posts reaching up to 37,000 people, and ran a regular column in the Frome Times.
From January 2021-February 2022 FHfF produced a monthly radio show called Housing Hub on Frome FM. Produced by Polly Lamb and edited by Vicki Burke Housing Hub deals with the main housing issues facing our town with interviews and articles looking at what’s going on and what we can do to help solve the problems we have. On this page you can access all of the past shows and listen again. We also run occasional Webinars and online events, these will also available here to watch again.Listen to all of the past episodes of Housing Hub
Email: info@fromeareaclt.org
Frome Town Hall
Christchurch Street West
Frome BA11 3EB
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