Tim Crahart, our new development officer for Homeshare in Wales, says hello and reveals his passion for communities, young people who have experienced care, decent housing and small dogs! Tim’s role is funded by Welsh Government and he’s looking for organisations who want to start Homeshare in Wales.
“I’m really excited to be joining Shared Lives Plus as we bring Homeshare into Wales. Most of my time over the last 25 years has been spent working in housing or homelessness for third-sector organisations like Shared Lives Plus. I started out as a tenancy support worker and worked my way into management. I’ve been involved in development, new business, service improvement, quality assurance, policy as well as managing frontline advice and support services.
I first came across Homeshare around ten years ago and I thought it was a great way to solve the issues of isolation and loneliness and a lack of affordable accommodation for older and younger people. I have long been an advocate of interdependence and asset-based approaches, so Homeshare appeals to me on many different levels. In Wales we have seen huge rises in house prices, the largest in the UK, particularly since the toll was removed from the Severn Bridge. Further west we have seen entire villages being bought up as second homes which has priced local inhabitants out of the area.
My last role was within Voices From Care Cymru, a Welsh based charity that works with care experienced children and young people to provide support, community and a voice. As a user led organisation, our Board of Trustees was split evenly between care experienced young people and professionals. The highlights of working there were developing a new service to support young people prior to, during and after the transition to independence and also organising an event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Lost in Care report where the speakers included Mark Drakeford, the First Minister for Wales and Sally Holland, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
I am really pleased to be working in a values based organisation that seeks to address some of these issues in such a positive way, a way that encourages individuals to be the solution for each other and avoids a reliance on services.
On a personal level, I’m married to Deb and have three grown up daughters; Katrina, Iona and Caley, although the baby of the family is Max the jackahuahua.
Outside of Shared Lives Plus, I work one day a week for the Methodist Church where I am a Mission Developer for my local community. I am currently involved in running a Forest Church and launching a community resource centre. I also write and sing and just prior to lockdown I released my first folk album.
Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome and I’m excited to see where this journey takes us.
If you’re interested in setting up Homeshare as a social business, or investing start up funds to start Homeshare as a local preventative service to help older people stay independent in their own home, and enable young people to stay in their local communities, please contact tim@sharedlivesplus.org.uk