Welcome to the Re-Unite Project
"We're delighted that our aim to replicate Re-Unite across the country has moved forward in 2011 despite a very challenging funding environment." - Housing for Women & Commonweal HousingFounders and directors
- 31st of July, 2011The website for Re-Unite South London is now live.
The Project
Re-Unite is a UK based housing project. We provide a package of support and access to housing for mothers that have been separated from their children whilst serving a prison sentence.
The founding partners of the project Commonweal Housing, Housing for Women and Women in Prison noticed that there was a real need to help these mothers, as there is no provision of family housing on release for mothers that are not in custody of their children. This issue causes a catch 22 situation because without suitable family accommodation it is much more difficult for the mothers to regain custody of their children.
We currently work with women that have a reasonable prospect of being re-united with their children, either on their day of release or for ours Mothers' Programme within 6 months of release. We work with the mothers, various support, and governmental agencies to ensure that the women and children are re-united successfully in safe and secure accommodation that allows them to prepare for fully independent living up to a year after they are released from prison.
Replication
The original Re-Unite pilot in South London has been positively evaluated by Prof. Loraine Gelsthorpe and her team at the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University (see Project page for a summary of the findings).
We are now seeking to roll the model out across the country by identifying support and housing providers and sharing with them the learning, procedures and a network of providers also delivering Re-Unite.
If you are interested in becoming a project partner or would like more information on the project then please contact us on 0207 953 3038 or via office@commonweal.org.uk.
The Founding Partners
Commonweal Housing
Our vision is to develop innovative housing solutions to social injustices, capturing the learning and achieving replication of proven successes. To this end, we commission independent, external evaluation of projects to ensure we capture all relevant learning and to establish the role model principles to enable future campaigning for replication.
As an organisation, we strive to achieve policy and operational change to secure positive and enduring benefits for those experiencing social injustice.
We provide the housing for pilot projects that require bespoke acquisitions. Since 2007, we have allocated around £4½million for such projects with a further £4½m earmarked for new projects over the next 5 years.
Housing for Women
We are a Housing Association based in London. We were established in the 20th century to ease the problem of single women coming out of domestic service with nowhere to live and for single women who had a great deal of trouble obtaining housing by themselves. We remain a Housing Association dedicated to women.
We have housing stock of over 800 properties across London. Our emphasis is still the general needs housing of single women but we also have several projects that deal with social and criminal justice related housing issues.
We have accommodation for 10 families on the project. To date we have had 48 applicants, 21 of whom we have housed in Re-Unite South London. Nine families so far have moved on into settled accommodation, with two years being the average length of stay. We have implemented all the recommendations from the initial evaluation of the project one of these being that the length of stay be reduced to one year.
We continue support this project and the ethos behind it. We are looking forward to the project expanding through the replication process and hope to work with many different organisation to help roll the initiative out across the UK so that every woman has the opportunity, where possible, to be re-united with her children successfully after release from prison.
- South London
- Birmingham
- Gloucestershire
- Humberside
- Greater Manchester
- West Yorkshire
Borough(s): Greenwich, Southwark, Lewisham
Re-Unite South London has properties in:
Greenwich, Southwark and Lewisham.
Managed by
- Housing for Women
- Sixth Floor, Blue Star House
- 234-244 Stockwell Road
- London
- SW9 9SP
- Commonweal Housing
- Grove End Gardens
- 33 Grove End Road
- London
- NW8 9LN
Re-Unite Birmingham has been operational since June 2011. Housing for the project is provided by Midland Heart.
Managed by
- Ananwim
- 228 Mary Street
- Birmingham
- West Midlands
- B12 9JZ
- Telephone: 0121 440 5296
Re-Unite Gloucestershire has been operational since November 2011. Housing for the project is provided by a range of local social housing partners.
Managed by
- ISIS Women's Centre
- Belsize House
- 1 Brunswick Square
- Gloucester
- GL1 1UG
- Telephone: 0145 2397 690
ISIS Women's Centre is part of The Nelson Trust.
Re-Unite Humberside is managed by Together Women from their centre located in Hull. Housing for the project is provided by a range of local social housing partners.
Managed by
- Together Women
- Hull
- 120-122 George Street
- Hull
- HU1 3AA
- Telephone: 0148 221 8125
Re-Unite Greater Manchester is managed by Threshold which is the business name for Threshold Housing project.
Managed by
- Threshold
- 2nd Floor, Aksa House
- 2 Medtia Square
- Phoenix Street
- Oldham
- OL1 1AN
- Telephone: 0161 626 0844
Re-Unite West Yorkshire is managed by Together Women. Housing for the project is provided by a range of local social housing partners.
- Together Women
- Leeds
- 13 Park Square East
- Leeds, LS1 2LF
- Telephone: 0113 380 8900
- South Yorkshire
- 2 Bailey Street
- Sheffield, S1 4EH
- Telephone: 0114 275 8282
- Bradford
- 1st Floor, Broadacre House Annexe
- George Street
- Bradford, BD1 5AA
- Telephone: 0127 430 1470
Select a project on the left to show information, either in the list at the top or by choosing one on the map.
Hold your mouse over the miniature map of London to enlarge it and show projects within.