Three months after the Cost-of-Living Summit – what has happened?

The October cost-of-living summit, organised by Love Southampton and funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities drew together over 200 people in a hybrid meeting, including the Leader of Southampton City Council, Councillor Satvir Kaur, and senior council officers including Chief Executive, Mike Harris, prominent local charities such as The Environment Centre, No Limits, Southampton City Mission, and the Society of St. James.  Three months later, an online summit reported on progress over the winter. 

People across the city came online on Friday 13th January to hear an update on all that has happened since the initial summit in October. Paul Woodman chaired the meeting and reported back on the key project outcomes for Love Southampton. This included a list of community grants made to groups like the Testlands Hub, The Big Difference and Southampton City Mission to increase their capacity to store and distribute food. 

Paul reported back on the Food Safety Toolkit which has been launched and is available for any organisation or school looking to set up their own community larder or pantry to support their own workplace employees or communities with access to food. The toolkit was put together by Southampton City Mission and is now published on the Love Southampton website. Finally, Paul highlighted that other cities and towns had been inspired by our October event and had copied the format for their own local summits. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! 

Council Leader, Cllr Satvir Kaur opened the summit with a keynote speech, thanking everyone for their Team Southampton approach and congratulated everyone for their collaborative spirit. She said how encouraging it had been to visit libraries, churches and other community centres that have risen to the challenge of the cost-of-living crisis with new initiatives.

Impact Evaluator, Jean Hirst, explained the work he has been doing as part of the Faith New Deal project, giving details of the interviews he has conducted to gain an understanding of the collaborative work in the city and the trust that has been built between partners across Southampton.

Sophie-Rose Holt Fanner from Saint Mary’s Church explained what has happened with the Warm Spaces initiative launched in October. 0-60 in three months was the answer. Over 60 warm spaces have been launched in Southampton, with at least one in every postcode. Sophie-Rose showed a map of all the new warm spaces and the incredible goodwill across communities in Southampton to provide a warm welcome to others in a range of community spaces. 

Duncan House and Sanjay Mall reported back on the Food Snapshot that had taken place in December. Nearly 18,000 meals were handed out by foodbanks and pantries in a single week in Southampton. The city's first-ever food census revealed foodbanks handed out 11,000 meals alone - with pantries and food membership clubs dishing out 5,857. Some 22 organisations took part in the week-long snapshot This news story was picked up by ITV Meridian News. 

Director of Public Health, Dr Debbie Chase, outlined the key ways that the city is mitigating the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Debbie reported back on the operational team that has been formed to tackle the crisis and presented the wide range of communications that have been published since October.  She highlighted a residents’ survey that is due to be rolled out in the coming weeks. 

Southampton City Council CEO, Mike Harris, closed the summit summarising the bitter-sweet nature of what has been achieved over the past three months. ‘Yes it’s incredible that so many warm spaces have been opened and meals have been shared, but terrifying that it’s needed in the city’. 

The summit was the final event to be supported by the Faith New Deal grant to Love Southampton from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. 

Please visit southampton.gov.uk/costofliving where you will find information and links to help if you are being deeply affected by the rising cost of living.