Young Achiever in Housing

• Name: Sophie Deighan
• Organisation: Cardiff Council Temporary Accommodation

Statement of support

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Sophie’s career in housing has taken her across almost every stage of the housing and homelessness journey. Throughout this, she has demonstrated a genuine passion for improving services, finding practical solutions to complex challenges, and ensuring the voices of both residents and frontline colleagues are heard.

Sophie began her housing career in supported accommodation, which involved acting as Client Involvement Lead within an 80+ bed mixed-needs hostel. She quickly recognised the importance of designing services with residents rather than simply for them, working creatively to increase resident involvement and create meaningful opportunities for people with lived experience to influence their environment and the services they received.

She subsequently moved into housing advice and triage in Cardiff Council, where she supported the implementation and rollout of in-person assessments following the phase out of COVID-19 restrictions. This experience strengthened her understanding of accessible, person-centred service design and the importance of adapting services to meet changing needs.

Sophie was then promoted to manage Cardiff’s Single Person Gateway, a gateway supporting single people experiencing homelessness into temporary accommodation during a period of record-breaking demand. She demonstrated considerable resilience, problem-solving and partnership working, responding creatively to significant pressures on accommodation capacity while supporting colleagues through an exceptionally demanding period.

She now works as a Project Manager supporting the implementation of the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026. A particular strength of her approach has been championing meaningful collaboration with frontline officers. She understands that successful transformation cannot happen without the people who deliver services every day, and has facilitated opportunities for colleagues to shape change, challenge proposals and share practical insight. In doing so, she has helped bridge the gap between strategic transformation and frontline delivery.

Sophie’s commitment to homelessness extends beyond her professional role. She is a Trustee of PATH (Pembrokeshire Action for the Homeless), a homelessness charity based in the area where she grew up. This is particularly meaningful to her and demonstrates that her commitment to improving the lives of people experiencing homelessness extends into her local community.

Alongside her career, Sophie is completing a Social Work degree, with a particular interest in homelessness social work. She is hardworking, compassionate and driven to advocate for people, while continually developing her own knowledge and practice.

What makes Sophie stand out is the breadth of her experience and the way she brings it together. She understands the perspective of residents, frontline practitioners, strategic services and the voluntary sector. She consistently seeks to listen, improve and challenge existing ways of working, inspiring those around her to see that meaningful change is possible when innovation is combined with lived experience, frontline expertise and a genuine commitment to people.

Outcomes and achievements

Frontline engagement: Sophie has established meaningful opportunities for frontline officers to shape the implementation of the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026, ensuring their practical knowledge directly informs the programme.

Stronger collaboration: She has brought strategic and operational colleagues perspectives together to identify challenges, test proposals and share learning, helping create greater consistency and ownership across the service.

Practical implementation: Sophie’s frontline experience across supported accommodation, housing advice, triage and temporary accommodation enables her to identify potential impacts on residents and officers and translate strategic requirements into practical solutions.

Wider perspective: As a Trustee of PATH Pembrokeshire Action for the Homeless, Sophie brings voluntary-sector and community insight to her project work, alongside her professional local government experience.

Continuous development: Sophie is also completing a Social Work degree, with a particular interest in homelessness social work, further strengthening the knowledge she brings to improving housing and homelessness services.

Together, these achievements are helping ensure service changes are collaborative, informed by frontline expertise and focused on delivering sustainable, person-centred change. 

• Name: Bethany Partridge
• Organisation: Awen Housing Group

Statement of support

Everybody needs a Beth in their team.

Being an inspiration to others – colleagues, tenants or residents.

Beth joined Awen as a fashion marketing student straight from university, unfamiliar with the sector but with a passion and determination to make a real difference and boy has she done this.

“She might not work in a housing team, but Beth's contribution extends beyond her role as Marketing and Communications Officer; she is a positive ambassador for Awen, championing resident voice and helping strengthen connections between frontline services and the communities Awen serve”.   

“Beth’s enthusiasm, energy, and dedication are infectious, and she is highly regarded by colleagues across the organisation”. Michele Morgan, Awen Director of Housing and Communities

Examples of creative / innovative approaches

Awen’s EDI champion: Beth co-ordinates Awen’s presence at Pride events, ensuring Awen is loud and proud and supporting Awen’s communities. She annually organises an ‘equali-tea’ party, bringing together 60+ staff to take part in educational quizzes, 'commitment pledges'. An important day in the Awen calendar which emphasises why equality is critical to Awen in delivering high quality services for all.

Created a Community Support Directory: Beth used her creativity to bring together Awen and other useful information in one place ranging from foodbanks to local hubs to recycling centres. 

The information evolved into a community directory, which sits on Awen’s website. QR codes to the directory are included on Awen’s marketing material, so residents can scan and find up to date information for their area. Beth’s focus is always on making things easier and accessible for residents.

Monmouthshire Volunteering Awards (MVAs): Beth is very much an extended member of Awen’s engagement team. Her meticulous organisation skills and creative flair, ensure the MVAs are not only run like clockwork but are a fun, memorable event where all award winners feel special and their ‘stories’ are heard.

Beth’s responsibilities include the branding, promotion of the event, creating personality packed video reels of the winners, information booklets, as well as coordinating a full social media takeover on the night of the evening to celebrate Monmouthshire’s heros!

Showing continuous improvement in the delivery of services in the pursuit of excellence

Beth has an exceptional ability to capture the essence of what matters most to residents. She immerses herself in Awen communities and engagement activities, whether it is at a community litter pick, interviewing Awen’s ‘Pitch for your Project’ winners or using a volunteering day at a local hub. This helps Beth create authentic communications that resonate with residents. 

Rolling out the tenant app – Beth played a lead role in creating a unique playful brand for the launch of Awen’s tenant app. An owl character was developed and used across all promotion. Slogans such as ‘Hoot Hoot Hooray the app launches today!’ helped capture interest. How-to videos were created, a large caricature owl was developed and taken around local hubs with leaflets left to create awareness.  Over 2,000 residents signed up over a year period.

COLIN (Cost of Living Initiative) leaflet – Beth created a ‘back of the pocket’ leaflet which outlined support services and moneysaving tips and turned them into a foldable leaflet for trades and frontline staff to take with them in their pockets when visiting residents. Ensuring they were equipped to signpost residents who might need financial support.

Community Benefit fund -  Beth spearheaded Awen’s community benefit campaign for a housing development in Undy, allocated a funding pot of £20,000 from the contractor. Local clubs and schools were invited to apply for the funding and local people were invited to digitally vote for what cause mattered the most. The campaign was extremely successful thanks to Beth’s digital and communication skills.

• Video reels created by Beth received 13,400+ views across Insta/FB
• 73 people shared the campaign across socials
• 7,000 visits to the community benefits page
• Over 500 votes cast.

Outcomes and achievements

Beth participated in Awen’s Future Leader’s scholarship, created for talented individuals with a potential for leadership. 

After 12 months of coaching, participants choose a project relating to their area of work. Beth was entrusted by her manager to create a new Social Media Strategy.

Beth used a variety of quantitative and qualitative feedback from residents, Awen’s Community Voice group and stakeholders, to inform the plan. 

The result was an incredibly innovative, visual strategy which will elevate Awen’s social media presence and help embed the new Awen brand. A key focus being to help allay fears residents might have about the name change. Beth also presented the new strategy to both Awen's Community Voice and Board and blew them away with her confidence, innovation and passion for resident led communications.

Content included meet the teams, day in a life of, spot the new van competitions, benefits of using the app reels, drone footage of start on site.

She has worked for Awen for two years and to date has already clocked up two internal staff awards:

• 2025 MHA ‘Above and Beyond’ Award
• 2026 MHA ‘Living our Values’ Award

“Beth is very much a team player and the sky’s the limit for her career.  Her qualification might be in fashion marketing but her heart is very much in social housing - and long may it continue. Everybody needs a Beth in their team.   

Beth’s unwavering commitment to excellence makes her a standout young professional and truly deserving candidate for the Young Achievers Award”. Vicki Smith, Communications and Marketing Manager 

• Name: Sophie Lewis
• Organisation: Adra (Tai) Cyfyngedig

Statement of support

Sophie began her housing career with no previous experience, joining our popular two-year ‘Housing Traineeship’. During the programme, she embraced opportunities to work across the customer and communities directorate, building a broad understanding of our services and the needs of our tenants. From the outset, she demonstrated determination, a strong work ethic and a genuine commitment to improving customer outcomes. She achieved the CIH Level 2 qualification and, reflecting her drive for professional development and continuous improvement, progressed to complete CIH Level 3.

Since completing the traineeship, Sophie’s career has progressed from Supported Housing Officer, Community Involvement Officer and, most recently, Acadami Adra Coordinator. Alongside her operational development, she has completed ILM Level 2 and an Introduction to Management qualification. 

Sophie has confidently led on a diverse range of projects – supporting vulnerable tenants, working with children and young people, working with partners and stakeholders.

An example of this is Sophie’s work leading on Adra’s Estate Visit Programme. Sophie has been responsible for the whole programme which includes developing all the H&S aspects,  risk assessments, staff rotas, staff briefings, comms work, all the follow-up work arising from the visits - such as repairs and also producing and presenting a report to Adra’s Board on the work.

Sophie takes a creative, practical and person-centred approach to addressing the needs of tenants. For example, recognising that some older and vulnerable tenants experience limited social contact, she organised and supported events that created welcoming opportunities for them to meet and socialise. An accessible solution that responded directly to tenants’ wellbeing. 

Sophie’s an inspiration. Eager to give back, she visits schools and career events to speak about the Housing Traineeship and encourage others to consider a career in housing. She has also appeared on BBC Wales speaking with pupils about her experience as a Housing Trainee and the career it has enabled her to build. 

In her current work, Sophie creates opportunities for individuals entering a career into housing to develop their skills through training, courses and work experience. She encourages participants throughout their journey and helps them take their next steps, with some progressing into placements or employment. 

Sophie would be a worthy winner of the ‘Young Achiever in Housing Award’ and here at Adra we couldn’t be prouder of her. We look forward to seeing how she will continue to develop and advance her career within Housing.

Elin Williams – Head of Community Services:

“Throughout her time with Adra, Sophie has made a lasting impact across a variety of services. She has approached every role with unwavering commitment, professionalism, and genuine compassion, earning the respect and appreciation of colleagues and tenants alike.

We are delighted to see Sophie begin the next chapter of her journey with our employment and skills initiative. Using her own experiences of entering the housing sector, she will help inspire and support others to fulfil their potential.”

Ceri Ellis-Jackson – Academi Adra Programme Lead:

“Sophie's journey from Housing Trainee to Academi Adra Co-ordinator is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when young people are given an opportunity to reach their full potential. I am incredibly proud to now have her as part of the team, where she is using her own experience to support and inspire other young people.”

Tamany Clwyd-Jones – Business Development Coordinator:

“When considering the ‘Young Achiever in Housing’ award, I can think of no one more deserving. From her very first day as a Housing Trainee, she has embraced every opportunity presented to her. Sophie is an inspiration to many and an outstanding example of how to begin and build a successful career in housing.”

Outcomes and achievements 

Sophie began her career in housing after being successfully appointed to a Housing Trainee role. This two-year development programme provided her with the opportunity to gain both CIH Level 2 and 3 qualifications, attend a wide range of training sessions, and gain valuable experience working within: business development, customer services, neighbourhood services, rent, allocations, and community involvement.

From the outset, Sophie embraced every opportunity, demonstrating commitment, enthusiasm, and a strong desire to learn. Through her dedication and hard work, she successfully completed the traineeship and secured a further role within Adra, marking the beginning of a career that has continued to go from strength to strength.

Sophie’s journey is a testament to what can be achieved when talent is matched with determination. She is a valued colleague who consistently demonstrates professionalism, teamwork, and a genuine commitment to putting tenants and customers at the heart of everything she does.

Her recent appointment as Academi Adra Coordinator represents a true full-circle moment, enabling her to support and inspire those beginning their own careers in housing. Sophie is a fantastic ambassador for Adra, and we are incredibly fortunate to have her as part of our team.