Trailblazer project opens doors to jobs

A North East pilot project has launched to help vulnerable adults overcome barriers to employment while tackling economic inactivity across the region.

A new research programme has been commissioned by the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to explore the challenges faced by people living in supported accommodation when moving towards work. 

Known as Opening Doors, the initiative will gather first-hand insight from people with lived experience to identify systemic barriers and help shape clearer employment pathways.

The project is being led by Tyne Housing, a specialist supported housing provider with more than 50 years’ experience, and brings together academic expertise from the University of Sunderland’s Institute for Economic and Social Inclusion and Newcastle University’s Fuse centre. 

Together, partners will deliver a comprehensive research programme examining how housing, health and employment intersect.

A wide network of housing providers, charities and local authorities is helping support delivery of the project, including Home Group, Bernicia, Oasis Community Housing, Action Foundation, Newcastle City Council, Thirteen and Housing Employment Network North East.

Steve McKinlay, chief executive of Tyne Housing, said: “The project will engage with people including single adults, care leavers, survivors of domestic abuse, refugees, employers and young people (amongst others) across the North East over a three-month period. It will enable their voices to be heard and real-life experiences to be documented to become the foundation from which key recommendations will be made at a local level.

“There is strength and depth with this partnership programme and that allows us to engage fully and directly with people who are living very different experiences, have very different backgrounds and are from different areas, but who all encounter common barriers when attempting to enter into employment. 

“This needs to change and by identifying why residents living in supported housing can often face greater disadvantages than others (and the reasons for this), we can unlock this cycle and take the right steps forward to put initiatives in place to help more people thrive.”

The project will run until March, with findings and recommendations feeding back to NECA to inform future policy and provision.

Opening Doors forms part of NECA’s Economic Inactivity Trailblazer programme, a flagship initiative aligned with the Government’s wider drive to support people into work. 

Councillor Tracey Dixon, leader of South Tyneside Council and NECA cabinet member for the Home of Real Opportunity, added: “Supporting people to gain the right skills and access sustainable employment is central to our ambition to reduce economic inactivity across the North East, and through our Economic Inactivity Trailblazer programme, we are testing new ways of working that focus on prevention, inclusion and long‑term impact.

“Opening Doors is an important step in understanding how people living in supported accommodation experience existing skills and employment systems – and where those systems are falling short. 

“By bringing together lived experience, academic expertise and frontline delivery, this project will help us design clearer, more joined‑up pathways into training, education and work which is all part of our ambition to make the North East the real home of opportunity for all.”

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