Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum are looking for people to be part of a 15 member Citizens Panel to address the issue of insecure housing and homelessness in Penzance. The question it seeks to address is:
“High housing costs, low paid insecure work, eviction and homelessness are all issues that blight local communities in Cornwall, including Penzance. How can we as a community come together to address these issues?”
Some case examples it might look at include:
A lone parent in rent arrears and threatened with eviction
A young person sofa surfing because they have no secure accommodation of their own
A homeless man with complex needs sleeping rough
This is about local people having a say on issues that affect their community.
The 15-member citizens panel will first learn about the issues in depth before discussing and deciding a way forward.
They will listen to expert presentations
They will discuss real life examples
They will quiz their elected representatives
The citizens panel will convene once a week for two hours over five weeks in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of the issues along with a set of recommendations. These will form part of a report which will be shared with the wider public and sent to elected representatives.
Interested? Closing date for application is 15th September
Click here to apply now