The Wise Group is partnering with Places for People and LandAid to explore how earlier, scalable support can help young people build the stability they need to sustain a home.
Through Connect Mentoring, we will support young people aged 16–25 across six areas of the UK, helping them build stability, confidence and practical skills, and connect with the right support before problems escalate.
Housing problems rarely happen in isolation
The Wise Group’s own data shows why early intervention matters.
When people come to us with a housing need, they are significantly more likely to need support in other areas of their lives too.
People with a housing need are –
• 7x more likely to need support with life skills
• 6x more likely to have an addiction need
• 4x more likely to need support with digital skills
The life skills finding is particularly striking. Maintaining a stable home isn’t simply about paying the rent. It can depend on someone’s ability to problem-solve, plan ahead, manage day-to-day responsibilities and navigate the pressures in their life.
Financial pressure, wellbeing, relationships, confidence, digital exclusion and someone’s ability to navigate services can all interact.
If we wait until those pressures have accumulated into a housing crisis, we have waited too long.
Earlier support can make a difference
That is the thinking behind our new partnership with Places for People and LandAid.
Connect Mentoring provides flexible digital mentoring, guided learning and personalised support designed to work earlier – helping people build stability, develop the skills and confidence to manage their tenancy, and engage with the right support before problems escalate.
It is deliberately preventative. It complements the support already available through housing providers and other services rather than replacing the more intensive support that may be needed when someone reaches crisis.
The digital model also means support can be delivered consistently across different communities and geographies –
Sean Duffy, Chief Executive of the Wise Group, said:
“If we are serious about preventing homelessness, we need support that reaches people earlier – and models that can scale.
“Connect Mentoring is designed to help people build stability, confidence and engagement before issues escalate further. This partnership gives us an opportunity to test how scalable, preventative support can strengthen tenancy sustainment pathways across multiple communities.”
Building the evidence for what works
Over the next 12 months, we will work with Places for People and LandAid to understand what changes for young people, focusing particularly on three areas – improved stability; greater understanding and confidence in managing a tenancy; and stronger engagement with housing and other support.
The partnership also gives us an important opportunity to understand what this approach could offer housing providers looking to reach people earlier across larger and more geographically dispersed communities.
Because preventing homelessness isn’t only about responding to a housing problem.
It is about understanding what is happening in someone’s life, recognising how those pressures connect and providing the right support early enough to prevent them escalating.
For the Wise Group, this partnership is an important opportunity to build the evidence, learn what works across different places and explore what that could mean for the wider housing sector.
