Greater Manchester Housing First hosted its second Legislative Theatre production on Tuesday, with the co-production panel performing a play they wrote called ‘In the Pilot’s Seat’.
The panel is made up of Housing First participants all of whom have experience of street homelessness and the many traumas that come with it. Their aim is to help guide and co-design the way that the service operates. Legislative Theatre is a project set up to make powerful pieces of theatre that highlight political issues in the hope of swaying key decision makers. Together they wrote and performed ‘In the Pilot’s Seat’, which focused on people’s real experiences of dealing with various homelessness services and what would happen if the funding for the GM Housing First pilot were to be stopped.
The play was performed for a live audience as well as being live-streamed via Zoom. The audience included Housing First professionals and partners (including some of Jigsaw Support’s very own keyworkers). After the performance they took part in a lively discussion about homelessness provision and the plights of people who are living on the streets.
The future of the pilot and others like it is currently shrouded in uncertainty until a decision is made at the comprehensive spending review at the end of this month. Hopefully the Legislative Theatre, combined with the wealth of positive case studies and data that show the effectiveness of Housing First, will sway the government to grant long term funding for the programme.
For more information about the pilot visit www.gmhousingfirst.co.uk. The video of the performance will be made available online at a later date so keep your eyes on their website if you wish to watch it.
