New fund for safer communities

A new £6million Safer Homes Fund is being launched today by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in association with bassac and its Community Alliance partners, the Development Trusts Association and Community Matters.

The fund, available for one year, will mean around 300 grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 can be made to key frontline community organisations – known as community anchors – to develop community safety programmes and support new, locally-run social enterprises, which together can build connections within communities, particularly in areas of high crime.

This is a prime opportunity to build on the wide range of community development initiatives that community organisations are already doing to improve trust within their neighbourhoods. It has the potential to strengthen links between local people and the police.

‘I’m extremely pleased that the Home Office has recognised the key role that community anchors play in bringing a variety of groups together and improving the overall wellbeing and safety of the community,’ says Ben Hughes, chief executive of bassac. ‘Community Alliance members are rooted in their local area and are perfectly positioned to use this fund to support the greatest number of vulnerable people to feel more secure in their homes, which is crucial in such volatile times.’

Community anchor, Bishop Creighton House, for example, has been running a home safety checks scheme and free and low cost handy people services for elderly, disabled and vulnerable residents in Hammersmith and Fulham for more than 15 years. Handy people install security locks and help with small jobs around the house. The organisation runs a popular scheme in the summer months to spruce up gardens – it has been shown that properties with neglected gardens are more likely to be burglary targets.

‘It is vital this fund is not about making people more isolated behind locked doors,’ says Rory Gillert, chief executive of Bishop Creighton House. ‘By working in association with bassac and its partners in the Community Alliance, the Home Office Safer Homes fund is much more likely to bring people together and contribute to strengthening communities. It is a very exciting initiative.’

More details about how voluntary and community sector organisations can apply to the fund will be available at the end of April. In the meantime, please direct enquiries to saferhomesfund@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Further information

1. The £6 million Safer Homes fund is part of a new government package of support being announced today by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to help the public protect themselves from burglars and help keep crime down.

Other elements of the package include:

• £3 million for police to increase their work tackling prolific and repeat offenders
• A free advice pack for people concerned about becoming victims of burglary that provides simple and practical advice on what they can do to prevent it. It includes discount vouchers for home security products from B&Q and Focus, a DIY company
• New advice from insurers on what home security measures householders can install to get the best deal from the insurance market.

2. The Community Alliance is a partnership between bassac (the British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres), Community Matters and the Development Trusts Association. The members of each Community Alliance partner are community organisations based in local communities, working to improve neighbourhoods and provide the services that local people need.

3. Bishop Creighton House is a community organisation that has been working with elderly, disabled and other vulnerable people in Hammersmith and Fulham for more than 100 years. It is a member of bassac.

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