Case Study

Pye Green

‘We see God-given miracles’ – David Spencer, Trustee at Pye Green Christian Centre.

Summary

Pye Green Christian Centre house eight men at risk of homelessness, providing them support to help them get back on their feet and move into permanent accommodation in about twelve months. They do this through a professional worker and volunteers from the church.

One of their two houses is owned by a member of the congregation. The other is leased from the Christian organisation Green Pastures. Green Pastures use money from philanthropic investors in order to buy houses – they’ve done this for 150 churches. For both the houses, Pye Green claim housing benefit from the council for those that they house, part of which they spend on rent. The benefit is paid at a higher ‘exempt’ rate because they also provide support to their residents. The remainder of the rent goes towards providing the support. The residents that Pye Green house either present themselves directly or are referred by other services, such as the prison services.

Alongside buying this house, Green Pastures provide support in navigating council systems, and impart their experience with helping residents through constant mentoring and training. By getting involved with Green Pastures, Pye Green have been able to help dozens of men move into independent living. Find out more about Green Pastures here.

Although they’ve got help, the church is still key to this success. They have an ‘army’ of volunteers from their church who provide pastoral support to the residents. They also run monthly meetings with guest speakers, and they put on days out and weeks away. This amount of love and support wouldn’t be possible without them.

They also introduce people to God if they are open to this. They offer prayer, alpha courses, and many choose to attend church. Although many of their residents come to church meetings, this is not a requirement for residency.

Background

Pye Green Christian Centre started out as a house-church in the 1990s. The house in which they were meeting was empty, and this made them uncomfortable – it didn’t feel like the best use of space. They found someone who needed a home, and they let them live there. While this didn’t last long, a new mission for the church had been born: to house those in need.

In 2004, a member of their congregation was doing up a house to sell it on, and he had a spare room. Again, someone who needed accommodation quickly moved in. Eventually, he realised that he could continue to house people there rather than sell it on. Pye Green still use this house today.

By 2013, Pye Green wanted to expand their work, but they couldn’t afford to do so alone. They came across Green Pastures. Without Green Pastures, they wouldn’t have known that they could claim a higher rate of housing benefit for supported accommodation. This allowed them to employ a professional support worker for the first time, providing a better service.

Pye Green Christian Centre has a culture of ‘looking at what’s in your hand and using it for God’s glory’. They have a heart for those the Church has rejected, particularly those who are homeless.

Pye Green is a semi-rural town with an increasing population as it becomes a commuter town for Birmingham. Although there’s been hidden homelessness for a while, there’s recently been a significant increase in rough sleeping. There are no homelessness hostels in the area. Because of this, Pye Green has never struggled to find residents.

Impact

• ¾ of Pye Green’s residents have started a ‘lasting’ relation with Jesus. Pye Green explains that this is because they show them love in action and people see Jesus through that.
  • The relationships with the church and with Jesus which Pye Green built led one former resident to ask Pye Green to hold his father’s funeral.
• Half of their residents move into full time employment in industries including charity work, carpentry and social work. Some have started their own businesses.
• Because of the support they give, of those residents who have a previous criminal conviction, 95% don’t reoffend.
• This work made members of the congregation more ‘resilient’ and ‘hopeful’.
• Pye Green are now working to provide move-on accommodation, as they found that there was a shortage in their area. They do not want to expand their provision until they can ensure that their residents have a sustainable long-term solution.

What do you need?

Personnel

• Pye Green have an ‘army’ of volunteers from within their church, who head up the pastoral support, cover out-of-hours support and manage maintenance. 
  • They have two or three people who dedicate themselves to maintenance, including one with electrical qualifications. 
  • One of their volunteers, David, spends two or three days some weeks providing pastoral support to residents, but he may only have a couple of calls with the support worker on other weeks.
  • Green Pastures suggest 1 or 2 people each able to contribute 2-5 hours per month per property on maintenance.
  • For admin, they suggest 1 or 2 people each able to contribute a minimum of 3-5 hours per week.
  • Green Pastures provide training for volunteers.
• They say that ‘you need someone who is pastoral and admin-focused at the same time’ for a support worker. Their worker is employed full-time, and spends 85% of her time on the housing, with the rest of her time spent supporting the church’s food bank.
• Green Pastures also require that you find at least 10 supporters who are willing to become ‘Good Samaritans’ – committing to pay £5 a month to Green Pastures.
• If you have less time, you may want to consider Hope into Action, which does similar work but handle more of the management.

Finances

• Working with Green Pastures removes the initial cost of providing the accommodation. However, the lease is still managed by the local church. This means that, while the model generally works to be cost-neutral, the risk is legally on the church.
• The financing for the houses is handled in a separate bank account from other church work.
• The local church also funds repairs and renewals.
• Pye Green charges a small utility bill to those in their houses.
• Even if you don’t work with Green Pastures, receiving exempt status is key to funding a support worker. However, this is only possible if you are providing genuine support to your residents – something which Pye Green struggled to prove at first.

Tips

‘Green Pastures are a miracle’ – David Spencer, Trustee at Pye Green Christian Centre.

• Pye Green highly recommend working with Green Pastures. ‘They don’t let tick boxes get in the way of faith… if you come to them with a problem, they’ll come up with a solution’.
• They suggest that you ask ‘why are you doing this?’ – are you doing it because it’s a good thing to do, or because it’s a call from God? This is important ‘because it will affect your church’s work’.
• ‘Don’t bite off more than you can chew’ by expanding too quickly.
• It’s important to reach out to the neighbours of your houses so that they understand the safeguards put in place. Pye Green ran an open day when they opened their second house.
• Don’t be disheartened if people reject your help.