creating communities to be proud of

We are in the middle of a housing shortage. House prices have risen to the point where an entire generation is struggling to afford a home.
In our cities, many people can't afford to rent a home in the neighbourhoods where they grew up. In the countryside, homes are more expensive than in cities and towns, and often beyond the means of local people.
There is a simple solution. We need to build more of the right homes, in the right place, at the right price. And you won't believe it, but all you have to do is say Yes to Homes.
We don't hear about it at lot, but the decisions about housing are being made locally, by local people and local councillors. While councillors are the ones that hold the keys to unlocking this problem, they need you to tell them it matters.
It only takes a handful of people to hold their local councillors to account on building new homes. What you can do right now is email your local councillors and add your voice to the campaign that's saying Yes to Homes in your community.
It's time your voice is heard. Say Yes to Homes.
Talent Match is a new Big Lottery Fund programme aimed at supporting unemployed young people aged 18-24. Humber Learning Consortium is leading a bid for £5.2m for a programme in the Humber. As part of this process they are conducting an online survey of young people across Hull, East Riding, North and North East Lincolnshire. Your views are extremely important and they will help to shape the type of programme and support that will be available in the area (if the bid is successful of course!).
Please have a go at completing the survey, it's totally anonymous and only takes three minutes or so to complete. Feel free to ask your friends to complete it too.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XNYC77F
Housing Minister, Mark Prisk MP, has called for the whole housing industry to learn from the examples set by local associations like Shoreline and those featured in a new report.

The 'Build Local' report shows how to build high-quality new homes in thriving communities, despite the property market slump.
Shoreline is a member of the PlaceShapers Group - the body behind the new publication.
PlaceShapers is a national membership group of almost a hundred housing associations formed in 2008. Its members own more than 700,000 homes and provide services to over two million people.
Tony Bramley chief executive of Shoreline said: "This report demonstrates exactly the sort of housing development that organisations such as ourselves strive to deliver - ones that are locally-conceived and delivered and that meet local housing need while driving local economic growth".
'Build Local' features 12 case studies from across the country, including urban and rural schemes, from village cul-de-sacs to huge, inner-city regeneration programmes. It also has suggestions on other ways to increase the numbers of new homes – often at nil or low cost. These include the strategic release of Green Belt land, community savings bonds and changes to housing association loans.
For a PDF and online version of the Build Local report see www.placeshapers.org
We've done it!
In just eleven weeks our kind employees have collected a tonne of food for the Grimsby Telegraph's Ten Tonne of Tins campaign to help local people experiencing poverty.
The tonne of food is a major boost to the campaign, providing stocks for the Christian Action Resource Enterprise's Daily Bread Food Larder which helps feed struggling families across North East Lincolnshire.
Emergency food parcels are used in a crisis rather than to help feed people for a sustained period of time.
We work with many local residents to access them and know first hand the fantastic work that CARE provide.

Photo: courtesy of the Grimsby Telegraph
Loading the van with food supplies – left to right - Shoreline chair Karen Rastall, Shoreline employees Kristina Parker, Susan Jarvis, Ken Adkin of CARE, Shoreline employees Ann Maggs MBE, Julian Precious, CARE manager Sarah Taylor and Shoreline chief executive Tony Bramley.
The Telegraph's Ten Tonnes of Tins campaign urges schools, businesses and members of the community to come together and donate 10 tonnes of tinned and packet food for those in need. For more information about the campaign or to receive a box to fill visit www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk or telephone 01472 372236. You can also take donations to the Grimsby Telegraph office, at 80 Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby, between 9am and 1.30pm, Monday to Friday.
What is Shoreline and who are our customers? Click to find out...

A new, fairer and faster way of finding a home in Northern Lincolnshire has been launched.

Here's your chance to put your burning question straight to our Chief Executive, click here to find out more and send him your question online.