Co-Production in Homelessness Services at Jimmy’s Cambridge
In 2025, Jimmy’s Cambridge introduced a new Co-Production Co-ordinator role, strengthening our commitment to embedding resident voice across homelessness services. We were delighted to welcome Alice Rowley to the team.
Co-production ensures that people with lived experience actively shape support, services, and organisational decisions—creating systems that are more inclusive, effective, and accountable.
At Jimmy’s, co-production means working with residents, not for them.
What Is the Co-Production Co-ordinator Role?
The Co-Production Co-ordinator acts as a consistent presence for residents, supporting meaningful involvement and challenging decision-making processes by asking key questions:
- How does this benefit residents?
- Why is this decision being made?
- Whose perspectives might be missing?
These questions help ensure that organisational choices are rooted in empathy, transparency, and the lived reality of people using our services.
Centring Lived Experience in Homelessness Support
Alice was appointed to the role, bringing extensive professional experience in homelessness services in Cambridge alongside lived experience of homelessness, mental health challenges, and navigating local support systems.
In her early twenties, Alice lived in a young women’s hostel following a mental health breakdown and hospital admission. After further periods of ill health, she was evicted and spent time in council-funded B&B accommodation before being placed in temporary housing. Deemed too high-needs for youth hostels, she was left living alone with minimal support at a highly vulnerable time.
Reflecting on this experience, Alice highlights how easily people can fall through gaps when systems prioritise process over people. A lack of appropriate support at critical moments can leave individuals exposed to harm precisely when stability is most needed.
This lived experience continues to shape Alice’s approach to co-production — reinforcing the importance of listening closely, understanding power imbalances, and recognising how decisions are experienced by residents.
Why Co-Production Matters
Co-production goes beyond consultation. It is about building trust, fostering safe spaces, and recognising residents as Experts by Experience.
Having experienced times when support felt absent, Alice understands how transformative it can be when someone takes the time to understand a person’s reality. Through co-production, residents are supported to share insights, challenge assumptions, and influence change.
This approach strengthens services while helping residents build confidence, skills, and a sense of agency.
Embedding Resident Voice Across Jimmy’s
Although the Co-Production Co-ordinator role is still in its early stages, its purpose is clear: to embed resident voice across everything Jimmy’s does.
By listening to feedback, acting on insight, and involving residents in decision-making, Jimmy’s aims to improve services, enhance resident experience, and foster a culture where every perspective is valued. Over time, this leads to more inclusive, meaningful, and effective decision-making.
Co-Producing Communication: The Resident Newsletter
One of the first projects led through the role was the creation of a co-produced resident newsletter. Developed collaboratively, the newsletter provides a platform for residents to share ideas, stories, and updates.
Published quarterly, the newsletter is created by residents, for residents — strengthening communication, visibility, and participation across the community.
Resident Involvement in Recruitment and Employment
Co-production now plays an active role in recruitment at Jimmy’s. Following resident consultation, residents are regularly involved in shaping how staff are selected and assessed.
A monthly employment and recruitment group runs at East Road, and in recent recruitment drives, resident representatives joined interview panels. Residents helped shape interview questions, provide feedback, and contribute to final decisions.
This approach strengthens accountability and helps ensure new staff reflect the values, skills, and qualities needed to support residents effectively.
Meaningful Activities, Skills and Participation
Resident feedback has also led to an increase in meaningful activities at East Road. These include cooking classes led by professional chefs to build practical life skills, and a candle-making project where residents created products to sell at the Winter Fair.
Consultation has highlighted a strong desire for opportunities to upskill and engage meaningfully. Looking ahead, a bicycle maintenance workshop is planned in collaboration with residents and external partners, offering further hands-on learning opportunities.
Strengthening Homelessness Services Through Co-Production
By embedding co-production in homelessness services, Jimmy’s Cambridge is ensuring that people with lived experience play an active role in shaping the support they receive. This approach improves accountability, strengthens services, and places resident voice at the heart of long-term change.
As Alice explains:
“The Co-Production Co-ordinator role is about making sure residents’ voices are heard and acted on across everything we do. Residents are Experts by Experience, and their insights help ensure we work from a truly trauma-informed perspective.”
Through co-production, Jimmy’s continues to build services that are responsive, inclusive, and shaped by the people who know them best.
