The Experts by Experience project has been established to empower people with lived experience of homelessness and housing support services to influence policy and practice across Wales. It is coordinated by Cymorth Cymru, the representative body for providers of homelessness, housing and support services in Wales.
The project has four main objectives:
- To provide opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness and housing-related support services to share their views and experiences.
- To ensure that people’s views and experiences are communicated to service providers and decision makers across Wales.
- To provide opportunities for people with lived experience to gain confidence, skills and knowledge that will help them to make their views heard and influence decision makers in the future.
- To encourage support providers to involve people with lived experience in decisions about their services.
What do we mean by ‘Experts by Experience’?
In the context of this project, Experts by Experience are people who have experience of homelessness or experience of using housing-related support services. We believe they are experts in their own experiences and provide invaluable insight and expertise about how we should develop policy and services in Wales.
Meet Freya
Freya Reynolds-Feeney is our Experts by Experience Project Officer. She will be leading the project and has experience of working with social housing tenants and people using housing-related support services in Wales.
Who is Cymorth Cymru?
Cymorth Cymru is the representative body for providers of homelessness, housing and support services in Wales. We act as the voice of the sector, influencing the development and implementation of policy, legislation and practice that affects our members and the people they support.
Why was the project developed?
At Cymorth we really value the views of people with lived experience and we are passionate about giving people a platform to make their voices heard. In 2020 we met with approximately 80 people with lived experience and asked them how they thought we should end homelessness in Wales. The resulting report was submitted to the Welsh Government’s Homelessness Action Group and the Minister for Housing and Local Government. The Homelessness Action Group subsequently recommended that the Welsh Government should continue to provide opportunities for people with lived experience to influence policy – and the Minister agreed. As a result, we developed the proposal for this project.
How is the project funded?
The project is funded by the Oak Foundation and the Welsh Government.
Will expenses be covered?
Yes – you can read our Participant Expenses Policy and click here for our Participant Expense Claim Form
You can find out more about the project by viewing our Experts by Experience Booklet.
If you’d like a hard copy, just drop us a message.
Experts by Experience 