Community Organisations invited to shape resident retrofit support Pilot
Enabling vulnerable residents to make their homes more comfortable and energy efficient, especially those who are digitally excluded or face other barriers, is essential to delivering retrofit at scale in London.
Warmer Homes London and the GLA, through the Warm Homes: Local Grant programme, are exploring a pilot to test whether community led support can help reduce dropout rates among vulnerable residents during the retrofit process. To shape a pilot that meets London’s needs, we’re seeking insights from community groups and Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) organisations on their experience, capacity and ideas.
The role of Community Organisations
We know that often residents who stand to benefit most from the Local Grant programme also face the greatest barriers to engaging with it. Insights from sector partners and community representatives show missed opportunities in previous schemes to offer targeted support for vulnerable groups.
Community organisations may carry a level of trust and local knowledge that national delivery programmes often cannot replicate. These strengths could help address common disengagement points, by offering tailored advice and support.
We now want to build a London specific evidence base about how this works practically within the city, and build our understanding of how and when this tailored support could avoid frequent drop-off moments within large scale grant programmes.
Building a Pilot
To help inform pilot design and procurement approaches, we are looking to hear from representatives from community groups and VCS organisations across London about their capacity, capability, models and potential challenges.
This engagement will help codesign a pilot that targets support for residents effectively, avoids duplicating existing services, and reflects the realities of the resources available within community organisations within London.
Community organisations would not be identifying eligible residents for grant programmes. They would support those who have already applied to complete the journey to a greener, healthier and more affordable to heat home. This could include:
- Helping vulnerable residents understand their energy assessment
- Providing tailored advice on recommended measures
- Offering remote or in-home guidance
To get involved
Interested organisations can find more information here.
