Community Campus 87 is a Community Benefit Society based in Tees Valley, Middlesbrough. We provide affordable housing, emotional & practical support, & training opportunities to over 200 people each week.
Challenge
We established Community Campus 87 in 1987 as a response to the growing levels of youth homelessness in Middlesbrough. The aim of the organisation was to provide good quality affordable accommodation with support to help young people achieve their potential.
Solution
The organisation initially leased properties to put a roof over people's heads. We then started to purchase homes to renovate to increase the housing stock. This was done by building up assets and then we moved into neighbouring districts with the same model - we now work across the Tees Valley.
As part of this development, we started a training scheme around the renovation of empty properties and providing young people with construction-based skills. The model became the main thrust of our development and led to providing construction services to other housing providers in the area.
We help young people access housing and help them gain the skills to sustain tenancies in the long run.
Revenue Model
We used finance to purchase empty properties to rent out to our client group. This creates a core income for the organisation.
The social investment allowed us to continue the geographical expansion and deliver other projects and contracts for homeless people. We used the houses purchased to bring in other resources to renovate the property and train the young people as part of the process. This helped the growth and sustainability of the organisation.
We also received a £50,000 grant to cover the development costs of getting everything in place. This was from what was Futurebuilders England and is now Social Investment Business. The £800,000 loan we received was split £400,000 from Futurebuilders and £400,000 from Unity Trust. The £50,000 was useful in that there were more costs than we envisaged and had to put a lot of time in to get investment ready.
Impact
Social finance enabled the organisation to move from funding on a project by project basis to being able to deliver a programme of projects on a bigger scale and therefore meeting the core aim of housing more clients. The development of the asset base has helped make the organisation more financially robust in challenging times.
- Carl Ditchburn, CEO