August 2025 Steve's Blog

Dear Supporters,

As summer draws to a close, I wanted to share some highlights from August and thank you for your continued support of Turning Lives Around.

• We’ve made great strides in our strategic development work, including starting a feasibility study with Eastside People exploring future property opportunities. We are keen to acquire more properties over the next 3-5 years, and we are exploring ways to fund a programme.
• Support from individuals and organisations continues to inspire us. A heartfelt thank you to the team at First Intuition, who are training for a sponsored Three Peaks Walk in aid of TLA. 
• We’re grateful for a generous donation from the Flower Fund, which will help us expand our wellbeing initiatives.
• Our services have seen positive developments too. Ofsted published a strong inspection outcome for our supported housing provision, and we’re finalising tenant satisfaction surveys to guide improvements.

In the news: Ministerial resignation: Rushanara Ali, the UK’s Homelessness Minister, resigned following reports she evicted tenants and raised rents on a property she owns. She denies wrongdoing but said her continued role would be a distraction. It’s a stark reminder of how personal actions can undermine public trust, especially in our sector. We are keenly awaiting the appointment of a new minister to progress work in the sector around a national strategy and funding regime. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyd3l2x2n8o

Keen to develop our relationship with Leeds University Union, we are in early conversations with their Chair to discuss the different ways they can join us in combatting homelessness in Leeds. 

We are looking forward to having a professional photographer working with us this week, capturing engaging images for our TLA impact report.  We hope that this will be a window into the depth and breadth of our work and of course encourage more people to support us – sneak preview below!

Recruitment

We are currently recruiting new trustees, and a new Finance Director. Here is the link to further information, please share with your networks:

https://www.turninglivesaround.co.uk/job-vacancies/

Thank you again for standing with us. Your support helps us turn lives around every day.

Warm regards,

Steve