Excellence in Health and Wellbeing

• Project name: Caerau Wall Insulation Scheme
• Lead organisation: Warmworks
• Partner organisation: Bridgend County Borough Council

Statement of support

The Caerau Wall Insulation Scheme was established to address the severe health, wellbeing, and housing issues experienced by residents living in privately owned homes impacted by deficiently installed insulation works as part of energy efficiency schemes in 2012 and 2013.

Investigations found that the workmanship was substandard across the affected properties, with mould and moisture leaving many households living in cold, damp, and unhealthy conditions with little confidence that their issues would ever be resolved.

Recognising that residents had endured years of frustration, stress, and poor health, the plan to fix things was designed around a resident-first approach that placed trust, wellbeing, and engagement at the heart of delivery. While the scheme included a programme of intensive remedial work, its greatest challenge was rebuilding trust among a community that had previously been badly let down.

A total of 64 homeowners signed up to participate, demonstrating strong interest despite years of frustration and uncertainty. The resident profile is predominantly aged 50 and over, with households representing a diverse range of employment statuses and income levels. The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 results report detailed Caerau as the most deprived area in Wales, and reported Caerau as third on the list of “small areas of deep-rooted deprivation”.

Delivered through a partnership between Warmworks, Bridgend County Borough Council, and the Welsh government, supported by £3.5 million of funding, the scheme introduced a dedicated Resident Liaison Service (RLS) to provide personalised support, regular communication, and practical assistance throughout the process. This approach ensured that residents were informed, listened to, and supported during the programme of work.

The RLS acted as a trusted link between residents, contractors, and stakeholders, helping to remove barriers to engagement and ensuring vulnerable households received additional support where needed. This innovative model enabled the team to establish meaningful relationships within a community that had previously been sceptical of further intervention, ultimately securing participation and enabling the successful delivery of extensive remediation works.

Managed by Warmworks, the scheme’s initial focus was on establishing a holistic resident engagement approach, after which a programme of technical works was delivered. These works have seen the removal of the existing deficient insulation, followed by the installation of adequate ventilation, and the application of either rendered wall reinstatement or new external wall insulation where appropriate.

Warmworks has resolved many resident concerns and technical constraints throughout the process. The challenges within and outside homes in the community have been wide-ranging, including the effects of dereliction, the disposal of hazardous waste, and support for particularly vulnerable residents.

The RLS’s innovative approach has ensured that wellbeing support, trust-building, and tailored engagement have remained central throughout the scheme works and has been critical to safe and effective delivery. Operating alongside the Noddfa Chapel Community Project and in proximity to the scheme site compound, the RLS has maintained a regular in-person presence throughout each week, providing direct access for residents through drop-in sessions, home visits, and ‘meet the contractor’ events.

This proactive engagement has been complemented by frequent, clear, and accessible scheme communication, including the Caerau community quarterly newsletter and ongoing liaison with Bridgend County Borough Council through scheme update meetings. Alongside communications, liaison services have supported wider community initiatives including local foodbanks, school awareness sessions, and participation in various other charitable events, strengthening relationships with residents and local organisations.

The consistent local presence has ensured that resident concerns have been addressed quickly, access levels to properties have remained high, and it has helped manage expectations around disruptive works and significantly reduced resident dissatisfaction escalations.

Outcomes and achievements

The scheme is nearing completion and has delivered significant health and wellbeing benefits. Damp and mould issues have been addressed by removing defective insulation, installing appropriate ventilation systems, and carrying out targeted remediation works. As a result, residents are experiencing warmer, healthier homes, improving comfort and quality of life.

The scheme has also delivered wider social value by strengthening community relationships and creating opportunities for residents to engage with support services and local organisations.

A key measure of success has been positive feedback from residents. Myrtle Ann Jones described living with damp and mould that affected her family's health before the scheme. She now lives in a comfortable, dry home free from condensation and highlighted the positive impact on her daughter's respiratory condition.

Residents John and Shirley Tame also praised the scheme for delivering a dry, mould-free home and excellent support: “It's a big improvement. I'm pleased to see the result, and I've got to say they've done a marvellous job.”

By combining technical excellence with a compassionate, resident-centred approach, the Caerau Wall Insulation Scheme has transformed living conditions for affected households, restored trust within the community, and demonstrated how collaborative partnership working can deliver long-term health and wellbeing outcomes.

• Project name: Cardiff Council Community Living Service – Housing for Older people
• Lead organisation: Cardiff Council
• Partner organisation: Radis Community Care

Statement of support

Cardiff Council Community Living Service – Housing for older people 

Cardiff Council's Community Living Service is transforming the health, wellbeing and independence of older people through innovative housing, care and support services that help residents live well for longer within their own communities.

The service provides accommodation for older people across a range of community living schemes, including traditional sheltered housing, two recently developed schemes for people aged 60+, and Llys Y Goetre, Cardiff Council's first Housing with Care scheme and one of the first public sector developments of its kind in Wales.

The ethos of the service is that that good housing is fundamental to good health. Across all community living schemes, dedicated on-site scheme managers deliver weekly programmes of resident engagement designed to improve wellbeing, reduce loneliness and create thriving communities. Activities include social clubs, games, entertainment events, communal meals and wellbeing initiatives tailored to resident interests and needs.

These opportunities for connection play a vital role in tackling social isolation. 

Residents regularly report increased confidence, stronger friendships and an enhanced sense of belonging as a result of participating in scheme activities and community life.

Our most innovative approach is demonstrated through Llys Y Goetre, where a partnership model is delivered with Radis Community Care and Cardiff CC staff working together to deliver an integrated Housing with Care service. This collaborative approach combines community living for older people with care in a single setting, enabling residents to maintain independence while accessing support when they need it.

Llys Y Goetre scheme offers:

• An on-site care team available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Dedicated on-site housing support staff.
• A wellbeing hub hosting district nursing services, including two regular clinics.
• A resident lounge and event space that encourage social interaction and community participation.
• Extensive gardens and outdoor spaces that promote physical activity and wellbeing.
• Community alarm and telecare assistive technology that enhances safety and independence.
• Ten fully equipped "step-down" apartments supporting hospital discharge, rehabilitation and recovery.

This integrated model provides a seamless experience for residents and demonstrates the power of partnership working in delivering positive health outcomes. By bringing together housing, care and health professionals within one community, residents benefit from earlier intervention, coordinated support and improved access to services.

The impact has been significant. Residents are able to remain independent for longer, often avoiding or delaying the need for residential care. The availability of on-site support reduces the risk of crisis situations, while opportunities for social engagement improve emotional wellbeing and reduce isolation.

The step-down apartments have created an innovative pathway between hospital and home, supporting recovery in a safe and supportive environment while reducing pressure on health services. 

Our partnership approach extends beyond care provision. community living works closely with health professionals, Adult Services, telecare providers and community organisations to ensure residents receive holistic support that addresses both health and social wellbeing needs.

Outcomes and achievements

By combining innovative housing solutions, integrated health and care partnerships and a strong commitment to resident engagement, Cardiff Council's community living service is delivering measurable improvements in health and wellbeing for older people. Through schemes such as Llys Y Goetre, we are demonstrating how collaboration, innovation and resident-focused services can help people live independently, safely and with dignity for longer, while improving outcomes for individuals, communities and public services alike. 

• Project name: Gwent Hoarding Task Force
• Lead organisation: Holistic Hoarding
• Partner organisations: Gwent Regional Partnership Board

Statement of support

The Gwent Regional Hoarding Task Force is an ambitious partnership between Kayley Hyman, Holistic Hoarding CIC and the Gwent Regional Partnership, united by one goal: to change how people who hoard are understood and supported, preventing unnecessary eviction and using learning from Gwent to influence lasting change across Wales.

Hoarding sits at the intersection of housing, mental health, safeguarding, fire safety, environmental health and social care. Yet responses can differ significantly between organisations and geographical areas. The task force was established because no single service can address this in isolation. Its programme maps existing approaches, identifies common challenges, shares learning and develops more consistent, evidence-informed practice across Gwent.

At its heart is a simple principle: **respond to the person, not simply the property.**

The task force launched in May 2026, bringing together approximately 100 people from housing, health, environmental health, fire and rescue, commissioning, frontline services and lived experience. Rather than another professional talking-shop, it created a regional infrastructure through which practice can be challenged, evidence gathered and solutions developed collectively.

Kayley Hyman, Founder and Director of Holistic Hoarding CIC, brings more than a decade of experience spanning mental health, housing and homelessness prevention. Holistic Hoarding has grown from a training consultancy into a commissioned specialist therapeutic service, with its work contributing to 85 prevented evictions. Kayley has also developed specialist training delivered to more than 5,000 professionals.

Her work connects frontline practice directly with wider professional and policy development. Kayley is a member of the UK Hoarding Partnership Steering Group and in January 2026 attended Westminster at the invitation of Paulette Hamilton MP, where the urgent need for national hoarding guidelines and the evidence required to progress them were discussed. Kayley is also the trainer for the Chartered Institute of Housing's specialist course, *Mental health and housing: How to create sustainable tenancies for tenants who hoard*.

The Gwent partnership puts these principles into practice. Instead of relying upon enforced clearance or waiting for tenancies to reach crisis, the model promotes early intervention, specialist assessment, harm reduction, motivational and behavioural approaches, relapse prevention and coordinated working between agencies. The desired outcome is not a temporarily cleared property; it is a safe, sustainable tenancy.

Importantly, specialist knowledge is not retained by one organisation. The task force creates a mechanism for expertise to be shared and embedded across services. Its programme includes identifying common themes and promising practice, developing shared approaches and creating learning networks for service leads and frontline professionals.

This is already translating into commissioned delivery. The Blaenau Gwent partnership model, for example, combines intensive relationship-based therapeutic support with workforce development and multi-agency learning, targeting reduced eviction and tenancy breakdown, safer homes, reduced fire and environmental risks, improved engagement and increased professional confidence.

But the ambition extends beyond Gwent.

A national consultation event planned for November will use regional learning alongside professional and lived experience to progress the development of **All-Wales guidelines for hoarding**.

The long-term ambition is greater still: for trauma-informed, tenancy-sustaining principles to become embedded within Wales' housing framework and, ultimately, legislation, creating a consistent and proportionate response in which eviction is genuinely a last resort.

**This partnership is not simply improving how Wales responds to hoarding. It is working towards a Wales in which preventing an eviction comes before managing its consequences.**

Outcomes and achievements

The Gwent Regional Hoarding Task Force has established a regional infrastructure for improving responses to hoarding, connecting housing, health, environmental health, fire and rescue, commissioners, frontline professionals and people with lived experience.

Its May 2026 launch attracted approximately 100 attendees, creating a platform to identify common challenges, share best practice and work towards greater consistency across services.

The partnership builds upon demonstrated specialist impact. Holistic Hoarding CIC's work has contributed to 85 prevented evictions, while Kayley Hyman's specialist training has reached 5,000+ professionals. Kayley also contributes to national change through the UK Hoarding Partnership Steering Group, including discussions at Westminster regarding national hoarding guidelines, and as trainer for the Chartered Institute of Housing's specialist hoarding course.

Task Force principles are already translating into commissioned delivery. The model combines specialist therapeutic intervention, early intervention, harm reduction, multi-agency coordination and workforce development, targeting reduced tenancy breakdown, safer homes, improved engagement, reduced fire and environmental risks and increased professional confidence.

The next milestone is a national consultation event in November, taking learning from Gwent towards All-Wales hoarding guidelines, with the longer-term ambition of embedding tenancy-sustaining principles within the Welsh housing framework and reducing preventable eviction through systemic change.