Introduction.

We have been inspired by the future living needs of our adult son, a mostly independent, gentle, autistic, young man who has some support needs. We are very familiar with those waking thoughts in the early hours, wondering how our child’s life will be, beyond ours. Will they be safe? Will they feel isolated or lonely? Will they have someone nearby to turn to, who understands them and who they can trust? Will they have a secure and happy home life with privacy, purpose and respect?

Having discovered the total lack of any suitable, inclusive, sustainable, safe, appropriate and truly supportive housing options for him, we have decided to effect change and to build and create an intentional community ourselves – in the heart of the city. Beyond and alongside that, we are also leading a campaign to shed light on this overlooked but desperately needed type of housing.

About us.

We are a family of 4 who have lived in Borough, SE1 for nearly 30 years. I am a documentary photographer, my husband an advertising creative director. Not really the skills needed to achieve our vision, but we believe strongly in true community and have a passion to create change.

We came up with a name (see below why we’re called Satsuma Neighbour), then gathered together a working group of enthusiastic and relevantly-skilled individuals who share our vision. Do have a look under ‘Our Team’ to see who we all are. We had our first working group meeting around our kitchen table in May 2023 and since then have made considerable progress, continuing to push ahead. We hope you can come along with us (see ‘Take Action’) to fulfil our vision...

About.

When our eldest son was a young boy at school, the word most used when discussing his development, his education, his life, was ‘inclusivity’. Such a potent word, holding him up as an equally valued member of society.  The other terms we often heard were ‘reaching independence’ or ‘increasing independence’.  These words followed him throughout primary school, secondary school and into various colleges.  Then, when he left those places and we started to look at supported housing for him, we realised that they were very empty words indeed. There appears to be no such thing as true inclusivity when it comes to supported housing. And no choice.

For adults like our son, (who may have a level of disability and some support needs, but for whom independence is very much a possibility), the options for good, supportive independent living, (particularly in the inner city), are, at best, very poor, at worst, non-existent. The result is that individuals, who could easily live more independent lives, remain at home with their families, isolated and rapidly losing the independence skills they’ve been carefully and steadily building up throughout their lives thus far.

Maybe your experience is the same as our son’s. Do you feel there are good options out there for you or your child? We feel they are extremely limited. People with higher support needs may have a clearer need for more specialist housing, but those with lower support needs either end up living at home, long after they need to, or accept unsuitable, unsustainable, insecure housing. When places do come up close to home, they are totally oversubscribed and tend to be made up of blocks of housing where people with similar needs (therefore not inclusive), are housed together. Or they may not have enough privacy, perhaps having their own bedroom but needing to share other living spaces. These options (if they exist) might sound OK, but they are not giving individuals any real choice and are segregating them further as a group and from properly mixing in the communities that they have grown up in. It is a national scandal, played out across the country, the genuine needs of a forgotten group, that nobody is addressing.

Satsuma Neighbour?

A curious name perhaps? Perhaps not…

When our son was a young boy, he loved satsumas, tangerines, clementines. He still does. He would peel them so carefully and then place all the segments (having removed every shred of pith), in perfect formation, in a semi-circle around the edge of his plate, before eating them from one end to the other, a beautiful process. (See homepage image).

Fruits are a potent, symbolic and essential part of our nourishment and wellbeing. Satsumas are healthy, colourful and bright fruits. When unpeeled they uncover a tight knit community of segments, each holding equal importance, the pith, glueing the pieces together. And a satsuma is one of the only fruits that seem made for sharing, it’s hard to peel and eat one without offering a few segments to a companion.

But satsumas are not an exotic and rare commodity, they are readily available.

Neighbour – a word that seems to be losing importance and relevance. But a good neighbour makes life worth living.  Having a good neighbour is what everyone needs to feel safe and secure and relaxed.  A good neighbour means everything. And to be a good neighbour should be an important and integral part of good living, to feel part of something, with purpose.

We also challenge the idea of what a good neighbour is. We think it is very often considered through a neurotypical lens. Our son is not ‘sociable’, but he has great compassion, he notices things and is more than happy to help people in practical ways. He is undoubtedly a good neighbour.

Everyone would like to call themselves a good neighbour, but somehow, as our communities fragment, the role is being eroded.

But it’s how we should all be living in 2024 and beyond. A time when everyone aspires to being a proud Satsuma Neighbour.

Satsuma Neighbour - a place to call home, for everyone.