Housing has underpinned our work in west Hull for over thirty years…
Martin Newman, Giroscope Co-founder and Coordinator
Giroscope buys and renovates empty property in west Hull to provide secure and affordable accommodation to those in housing need. We house a wide range of people: those living in overcrowded or poorly maintained properties, people on low incomes or claiming benefits, young people, single parents or those living in hostels or other temporary accommodation. In late 2018 we won an award for our work in affordable housing from the Empty Homes Network and are committed to the regeneration of our neighbourhood and the local community.
Our properties are finished to a high standard and are energy efficient, let at affordable rents, and we provide a fast and efficient maintenance service to all our properties: please click here to see before and after photographs of our properties to give you an idea of the quality of our work.
We encourage prospective tenants to be involved in the renovation of their homes and house many of our volunteers. This helps to give people a feeling of ownership of their property. We do not charge deposits, rent in advance or non-returnable fees, making our properties available to all and we provide security of tenure which helps to bring stability to our community.
Giroscope has created a social enterprise model that operates in one of the most exploitative areas of the housing market – the private rented sector.
Autumn 2019 we began construction of our Self-Build Community Housing project – an exciting new project for our neighbourhood!
As an aside, you can see a short animated film here made by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence which explains how housing in the UK has become expensive and looks at ways it can be made more affordable.