Housing provider Riverside ECHG, with the support of Church Housing Trust, continues to tackle the underlying issues of homelessness, and two brilliant examples of its work have reached the finals of this year’s UK Housing Awards, which were established to recognise excellence across the housing sector.

The community kitchen and food truck at the Quays hostel in Sittingbourne, Kent, is a finalist for the Community-led Initiative of the Year Award, while the End of Life care project at Newton House in Gloucester is up for the Specialist Landlord of the Year Award.

The Quays’ community kitchen provides courses on healthy eating, catering and cooking, as well as retail and work experience for residents of the hostel and unemployed local people. Roughly 500 residents, along with 3,000 locals, have had training since the kitchen was first set up five years ago. Church Housing Trust has funded several hostel residents’ Food Hygiene Certificates in this time.

Following the success of the kitchen, last year the hostel began its mobile catering service. It proved to be a vital part of the scheme, taking the residents’ achievements to a wider audience and providing the volunteers with further experience of retail situations. The kitchen has not only been a fantastic influence on the residents, but also the rest of the community. In three years, more than 70 unemployed people have participated in the programme. Alongside providing training for around 300 people each year, the project has dispelled some of the negative opinions local residents held towards homeless people.

Additionally, the Homeless Domiciliary Care team at Newton House centre in Gloucester, a focal point of intensive and targeted health support for homeless people who have suffered severe health crises, was submitted for the Specialist Landlord of the Year Award. Launched in 2013, it provides 20 adapted rooms in a specialist care setting and over the last year the team have given support to 98 homeless people. Church Housing Trust regularly provides funding for much-needed residents’ activities such as a gardening club.

With two excellent services being entered by Riverside ECHG alone, the judges are certain to have a difficult time ahead of them. Check back with us after the awards on 29 April to find out how Riverside did.