Centrepoint, the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity, has been awarded planning permission from Southwark Council to build 33 new single-occupancy modular homes in Peckham. 

The housing development is part of the charity’s Independent Living Programme, which seeks to provide 300 young people an home and entry-level or apprenticeship roles that lead to full-time employment.

Centrepoint will build 33 individual modular homes, transforming the existing vacant structure that comprised eight flats over two stories to two blocks with three stories each for the 33 homes. The modular designs offer a cost-effective solution to genuinely affordable living, often costing significantly less than traditional builds, and reducing construction times by over 50%. 

One in five young people using Centrepoint’s services are ready to move on but they are unable to do so due to a shortage of affordable homes, increasingly restrictive welfare policies and reductions in local authority benefits. 

The Independent Living Programme seeks to tackle the shortage of quality affordable accommodation, free up hostel beds Centrepoint currently provides for those in dire need, and give young people a real future of independence.

As part of the Independent Living Programme, Centrepoint aim to only charge a young person approximately one-third of their salary as rent. This would typically mean a 20-year old young person in Manchester, earning minimum wage (currently £6.56 per hour or £1,050 per month) would pay around £350 per month to live in a self-contained apartment. However, Centrepoint’s intention is to work with ethical employers to ensure young people are earning above minimum wage which would typically mean someone in London earning £18,000 per year would pay around £500 per month to live independently.

“Our mission at Centrepoint has always been to support homeless young people in getting a job and a home. The Independent Living Programme builds on that idea by making housing costs affordable and giving young people the foundation they need to start a career. We are so pleased to have secured planning permission in Southwark and hope other councils see the importance of what we’re doing to give homeless young people a real future and want to get involved too,” said Centrepoint chief executive, Seyi Obakin.  

“I’ve been working with disadvantaged people for over 25 years, and this is the most exciting and innovative programme that has tangible results in transforming young people’s lives. With an investment of almost £2 million from Centrepoint, we’re already maximising new opportunities by turning 8 units to 33 homes, with an ambition to create 300 within the coming year,” said Sally Orlopp, Director of The Independent Living Programme. 

On 13 November 2019, Centrepoint's patron HRH The Duke of Cambridge officially opened Centrepoint’s first Independent Living Programme offering, Petterson Haberdashers Apprenticeship House, a residential community for seven young people who are enrolled in apprenticeship programmes in Lewisham. 

The Programme is rapidly expanding, and Centrepoint is currently in talks with councils in Barnet, Hounslow, Waltham Forest, and Manchester. Centrepoint are interested in connecting with land and development opportunities and industry partners to further expand the Independent Living Programme.