Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) has invested £950K from its Community Investment Fund into social enterprise, The Big Life Company to enable them to buy 15 homes to support the expansion of their housing services for vulnerable adults in Liverpool.
The Big Life Company is part of The Big Life group. Over the last 30 years, The Big Life group has grown from a small community organisation into a large social enterprise and now works with more than 65,000 people a year in some of the most deprived areas in the north of England.
Big Life delivers a broad range of services covering children and families, health and wellbeing, and skills and employment, and works with partners from all sectors to make the biggest impact. Whereas most public services are organised around a single issue, Big Life tries to work with people on all areas of their life.
The organisation will use the SASC investment to buy homes as part of their Big Life Homes service which provides high-quality accommodation, and aims to reduce the inequality of access to safe and supported accommodation through a range of developments specifically for people who have experienced homelessness.
Having secure, supported accommodation is one of the first steps to recovery and to people turning their lives around. The service also offers support through a housing outreach support worker, which is not available through most private landlords.
Fay Selvan, Chief Executive, The Big Life group, said, “We have been supporting people to live independently in their own homes for over 20 years, but this is the first time we will be able to buy and own the properties. The SASC investment will help us to expand the service to more people and offer high quality homes to people who often get the worst housing in the private rented sector.”
Ben Rick, Managing Director of SASC said, “We’re delighted to invest in Big Life so they can grow their housing portfolio in Liverpool and help even more vulnerable people access safe, quality housing. Many of the people Big Life works with have multiple disadvantages.
“It may be lack of financial stability, mental health problems, homelessness, family relationship breakdown, poor physical health or lifestyle choices that have life limiting consequences. There are often all sorts of things stopping people from getting where they want to be. People juggle health, work, relationships and much more besides, so when one thing goes wrong, it can cause problems in other areas, especially for those with little financial or social support to begin with.
“Big Life’s approach is to look at every aspect of a person’s life, and work with them to remove all those obstacles on the journey to changing their life for the better. Having a safe place to live is the start of this process for many.”
For more information on The Big Life group visit www.thebiglifegroup.com
SASC’s Community Investment Fund was launched in 2014. The fund lends amounts between £250,000 and £2 million to community based, locally led organisations, which are providing essential services to improve the well-being of local residents, development the local economy and creating positive social change for all individuals in the community.
For more information on SASC visit www.socialandsustainable.com
