Interview with Amanda Driscoll
1. What is the Foyer and what services does it provide?
The Foyer is supported housing for 57 vulnerable young people (16-25). The aim of the project is to provide support to develop independent living skills.
2. How does the Foyer provide these services?
2a. The Foyer provides support and training. The support is provided by key workers who have regular key working sessions with the residents.
2b. The training consists of cooking club where residents can learn to cook, computer club where they can gain a city and guilds qualification in computer skills, jobseekers breakfast club where they can search for jobs. There is interview and C.V.workshops and is the city and guilds learning power course. Its worth noting that the foyer lends itself to external agencies to provide courses such as cannabis psychosis workshops and managing emotions workshops. And the Citizens Advice Bureau has provided debt management workshops.
3. How much say do the residents have in what goes on at the Foyer?
There are residents meetings once a month where residents can talk about what’s important to them and and where they can find out what’s going on in the coming weeks.
4. What facilities are available to the residents?
There is a laundry room for the residents and 14 kitchens spread out between them. There is a common room with sofas, a TV, a pool table and a drinks machine. There is also a large garden where the residents can hang out, sunbathe and have BBQs in the summer.
5. How do young people apply to the Foyer?
The Foyer accepts self referrals and referrals from external agencies. The Foyer is not instant access, there is an application process. The prospective resident would be required to have a look around, come for an interview and provide 2references.
6. What do the rooms consist of?
The rooms are fully furnished with windows, a bed, chair, desk, chest of draws, fridge freezer, comfy chair, and an en suite bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower.
7. What move-on accommodation does the Foyer provide?
The Foyer gets six nominations a year from the council for residents who are in work, have shown improvement and are ready for independent living. The move-on accommodation ranges from fully independent flats around Swindon to two move-on projects at Milton Road, and Eastcott Road.
8. What rules, regulations and forms of disciplinary action exist?
Residents are only allowed to smoke and drink in their rooms, if they are of a legal age to do so.
We have a no drugs policy.
We have rules to restrict the amount of noise in respect to other residents.
Residents are restricted to two guests at a time. Guests are only allowed in after 4pm on weekdays and have to be out by 11:30 on weekdays and 12:30 on weekends.
If a resident breaks any of the rules in their tenancy agreement, the staff talk to them first, after that there is a 3strike warning system ending in a 28day notice to vacate their room.
