Our Care and Support team provide over 300 accommodation, support and outreach services across England. We supported over 12,000 people in 2022-23.

Coronation events across the country

Earlier this year we celebrated the King’s coronation in style as 121 of our Retirement Living and Supported Housing services from Cumbria to Kent and everywhere in between, held parties and events to celebrate. The events ranged from older people coming together to create a King’s Coronation grand buffet based on dishes created for the 2023 Coronation and the 1953 Coronation, through to a service in London holding a BBQ and disco on the evening of the Coronation itself.

Some events were just for residents in the service itself, while others opened their doors for the local community get involved. This included one event in Hull where nearly 70 people came together for a whole day event starting with watching the Coronation on TV through to an afternoon tea, followed by a party with karaoke.

Across the country Riverside colleagues supported events by using their Volunteering days to help make the day event more special for our customers.

In total over 2,200 people attended events creating happy memories and a real sense of community on what was a unique day for the whole country.

NHF Research highlighted the supported housing sector’s impact on homelessness prevention, health and wellbeing

As a leading provider of supported housing for people affected by homelessness in July 2023 we published a brand-new piece of research into the supported housing sector’s impact on homelessness prevention, health and wellbeing. The findings form this landmark piece of research which was published in conjunction with partner providers and the National Housing Federation,  demonstrated clearly how supported housing specifically impacts homelessness, health and wellbeing as well as the challenges that it faces and the ways in which it supports and interacts with the NHS, social care, the justice system and other public services.

It revealed that revealed that without Supported Housing there would be…

• 41,000 more rough sleepers
• 30,000 more at risk of repeat homelessness
• 2,000 more in prison
• 14,000 more using psychiatric care

As well as a national media and social media campaign we staged an online event that brought together 120 key sector voices to hear about and debate this essential piece of research.

Op Fortitude – supporting veterans affected by homelessness

In July Riverside were delighted to launch Op FORTITUDE – a brand new service that is aimed at ending veteran homelessness.

Funded by The Armed Forces Covenant Fund, the Op FORTITUDE team works with individual veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness, supporting them either into suitable accommodation, or supporting them to maintain their current home.

Since launching the team have already helped hundreds of veterans affected by homelessness.

Street Engagement Hubs

In Greater Manchester we have set up two Street Engagement Hubs. These specialist services are centrally located places where multiple organisations work together under the same roof to offer a variety of practical services and advice to people who beg and those who are homeless or sleep rough.

These services in Manchester and Wigan are helping people through engagement rather than enforcement and look to break the cycle of homelessness through enabling individuals to access multiple services and address different needs at the same time.

Working closely with local police, the DWP, NHS and local charities we are able to support individuals to address the underlying causes of their homelessness, such as addiction or debt, in a matter of hours, by removing barriers and appointment wait times, which can often leave people who are begging or rough sleeping feeling like they have no other option.

Keswick Gardens Extra Care, Greater Manchester

Opening it’s doors in late 2023 and situated in Keswick Close, Middleton, Greater Manchester Keswick Gardens is the latest Extra Care scheme developed by Riverside for people aged 55 and over with or without care and support needs.

This brand-new purpose-built Extra Care service offers tenants the chance to live independently in their own home with access to innovative, high-quality accommodation and other communal onsite facilities.

The 23 one-bedroom and 65 two-bedroom properties at Keswick Gardens have been designed with maintaining the independence, safety and security of all residents in mind.

GROW employment programme

Our GROW (Giving Real Opportunities for Work) programme continues to provide employment opportunities to people with lived experience which includes but is not limited to homelessness, the criminal justice system, mental ill-health and substance misuse.

Following the full review of the GROW offer in 2021/22, the offer was relaunched across Care & Support in January 2023. The new offer includes additional support including access to Mentors, a Peer Network and a personal Roadmap to help GROW colleagues gain the confidence and skills they need to help secure permanent employment.

The new offer has been positively received by colleagues across Care and Support with 6 new roles being created in the first 3 months. The offer is also proving popular with customers and applicants without the required experience for other entry-level positions.

By replacing long-term vacancies with GROW roles, services can overcome recruitment issues and attract a wider range of applicants with valuable lived experience.

Work is taking place with colleagues across Care & Support to promote the benefits of the new GROW offer with an aim of creating a minimum of three roles in each of our six regions by the end of 2023/24.