Power/Interest Matrix
Power/interest matrix At The Salvation Army we’re preparing for the future by transforming all of our hostels into Lifehouses.
A Lifehouse is a place where everything is geared around residents developing purpose and relationships - accommodation just comes with it and isn't the focus. For instance, our partnership with "Goals UK" means self-esteem training will be standard. Also, through our Animateur programme which is funded by the Future Jobs Fund, we employ young people from the job centre to organise fun activities and community projects which benefit the local area as well as the residents of the Lifehouse.
The aim of our Lifehouses is to help residents find purpose and, ultimately, to get their life back. The name ‘Lifehouse’ was chosen by our residents and staff, in a nationwide poll, and it tells us that they understand that the work of a homelessness centre is driven by life journeys and not just journeys into housing.
The new focus of our services echoes the Salvation Army’s belief in giving people a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’. Back in 1865 when William Booth founded The Salvation Army he was quoted as describing how the support he was providing to an individual was a two way exchange, “so much warmth and light from me but so much labour in return from him”. We weren’t about hand-outs then and we aren’t now.
In many ways the spirit of the lifehouse is not just taking us back to Booth’s core principles but also back to the work of charities before Supporting People (SP) was introduced. Don’t get me wrong, the SP programme has had a huge impact in raising the quality of homelessness services but, in some senses, it’s inadvertently created an entitlement culture where we’ve forgotten some of our core values. We now just expect SP funding and a vast percentage of providers rely almost entirely upon it.
We need to think creatively and accept that budgets will be cut and funding will be harder to come by but we must not let this get in
A Lifehouse is a place where everything is geared around residents developing purpose and relationships - accommodation just comes with it and isn't the focus. For instance, our partnership with "Goals UK" means self-esteem training will be standard. Also, through our Animateur programme which is funded by the Future Jobs Fund, we employ young people from the job centre to organise fun activities and community projects which benefit the local area as well as the residents of the Lifehouse.
The aim of our Lifehouses is to help residents find purpose and, ultimately, to get their life back. The name ‘Lifehouse’ was chosen by our residents and staff, in a nationwide poll, and it tells us that they understand that the work of a homelessness centre is driven by life journeys and not just journeys into housing.
The new focus of our services echoes the Salvation Army’s belief in giving people a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’. Back in 1865 when William Booth founded The Salvation Army he was quoted as describing how the support he was providing to an individual was a two way exchange, “so much warmth and light from me but so much labour in return from him”. We weren’t about hand-outs then and we aren’t now.
In many ways the spirit of the lifehouse is not just taking us back to Booth’s core principles but also back to the work of charities before Supporting People (SP) was introduced. Don’t get me wrong, the SP programme has had a huge impact in raising the quality of homelessness services but, in some senses, it’s inadvertently created an entitlement culture where we’ve forgotten some of our core values. We now just expect SP funding and a vast percentage of providers rely almost entirely upon it.
We need to think creatively and accept that budgets will be cut and funding will be harder to come by but we must not let this get in