Street Soccer NI received a Housing Executive community cohesion grant of £4398 for their 33-week soccer academy programme which incorporates weekly football and workshops to engage hard to reach groups in the community.
Facilitator of a recent Housing Executive workshop in Coleraine after the weekly game was Patrick Hargan, Housing Executive Temporary Accommodation Manager, Causeway.
He said, “It’s a privilege to engage with this group, offering insights and knowledge around homelessness and social housing that may prove helpful if they ever need to access our services.
“We demonstrated how to make a housing application and how to access advice and support related to housing or homelessness at the workshop.
“People from disadvantaged groups of our society such as the homeless, people with addictions, mental health issues, ex-prisoners, refugees, asylum seekers, and long term unemployed were in attendance.
“Seeing them enjoy the football and leave with a smile is a fantastic bonus.”
Stephen Fleming, Street Soccer NI Coleraine Coordinator said, ‘It’s amazing to have the Housing Executive’s support, it gives us a platform which allows us the opportunity to bring people together to improve wellbeing through football and interaction.
“It also enables us to organise workshops such as this around housing to empower our participants by receiving knowledge and information around social housing, homelessness and build relationships with the local Housing Executive Temporary Accommodation Team which is so important.
“This is a massive bonus for us and everyone and can’t be understated.”
