Tools for hire scheme helps low-income families

Sandra Samuels OBE said the scheme would create opportunities for local residents

A new tool hire scheme has been launched in Wolverhampton to help low-income families to improve their homes and gardens.

The tool library is part of the city council's city homemakers initiative, which offers residents the chance to make small improvements to their homes, no matter their budgets.

There will be a £50,000 investment in the scheme over the next two years, with a base set up at the All Saints Action Network (ASAN) in the city.

"All Saints is one of 20 wards within the city; 32% of our homes with families are classed as deprived... We want to make sure that we can help to lift ambitions and create opportunities for our local residents," said Sandra Samuels OBE, chair of the network.

Residents pay a minimal yearly membership, and can hire up to three items for four days at a time.

Omie Pickerill, Sandra Samuels OBE, and councillor Stephen Simkins, leader of Wolverhampton City Council

"It's a really important project for the local community… It's going to help people have access to tools that are normally quite expensive to buy and may only be used a few times and then get stored in the loft or in the garage," said Omie Pickerill, tool library project officer.

"People sign up online; they then go into ASAN to show a form of ID, and then they can start borrowing.

"They can reserve items on a Thursday or Friday, borrow them over the weekend and then return them on the Monday or Tuesday the following week."

Residents can hire up to three items for four days at a time

"It's cheaper than buying the stuff and having it stored in the shed for years," said volunteer Gary.

Marie Lowe, also a volunteer, added: "I've struggled buying tools, and it's affordable for single parents and low-wage families to access tools."

Also included in the city homemakers initiative is Too Good to Chuck, which sees a network of partners at household recycling centres asking people if what they have brought along, like furniture or decorative items, is "too good to chuck".

They then restore them and give them a new life, instead of them being thrown away.