Changing the World for One Person Can Change it for Many

One of the things I’ve heard on the Housing LIN Future Leaders Programme that has really stayed with me came from Carly Dickson from ARUP: "Helping one person may not change the world, but it could change the world for one person."

In a sector where the word crisis follows the word housing like a shadow, it felt quietly radical. And yet, the more I sat with it, the more I recognised it as the truest thing about the work we do every day at United St. Saviour’s Charity, and in the housing sector as a whole.

I'm Communications and Influence Lead at United St Saviour's Charity, home to Appleby Blue, our RIBA Stirling Prize-winning almshouse development in Bermondsey. Often I’m asked ‘how do we scale this’? It's a fair question. We need more housing. We need quantity. But what I see at Appleby Blue isn't just a numbers story. It's a story about what happens when you put the resident, the person — genuinely and completely at the centre of your work.

Our model works because of that commitment to the individual and the quality of home they experience. We may not have built hundreds of homes in a single block, but we've freed up hundreds across Southwark through the housing chain. And the ripple effects of getting it right for each person spread further than you might expect. When a resident feels truly at home supported, known, connected — it transforms not just their life, but their family's too. Change the world for one person, and you may quietly be changing it for many.

Being part of this cohort has reinforced that belief. Talking to others on the programme, everyone here has a reason for being in housing, often a deeply personal one. It feels like an industry you don't just drift into, something pulls you here. And I've noticed that nearly everyone, when they talk about Appleby Blue or places like it, mentions someone in their own life they wish lived there. That says everything about both the scale of the challenge and the power of getting it right. 

The more I learn about housing, ageing, about communities, about what home really means to people…the more I realise what I don't yet know. That's not de-motivating. It's exciting. It drives me to keep asking questions, keep hosting those tours, keep connecting with people across the sector, and share what I learn along the way.

The programme also introduced me to another idea that has stayed with me, through the brilliant Susan Kay, former Chief Executive of Vivensa. She described her career not as a ladder climbed, but as a voyage at sea. You set out knowing vaguely your destination, the kind of boat you're sailing, and perhaps your own skills as a sailor — but not the storms, the rocks, or the weather. Sailing logs, she told us, never record a destination. Only a direction: towards.

Hearing that at sea analogy felt apt for my stage of life. Sometimes you can feel lost whether it’s in your career or your life as a whole, when you're so focused on knowing what your destination is. But sometimes a storm means you have to re-route, and that's ok. As long as you're still moving towards.

The Future Leaders Programme hasn't given me a destination. It's given something more valuable. A better sense of towards — and a reminder that you don't need to change the world. You just need to change it for one person. The rest has a way of rippling outward from there.

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Lizzie's blog is one of many by members of the 5th cohort of the Housing LIN’s Future Leaders Programme who have agreed to share what they learned on the 2025/26 programme. We are excited to publish these ahead of recruiting for the 2026/27 intake onto our Future Leaders programme, sponsored by Sovereign Network Group.

And, if you found this of interest, do check out the other blogs in this series, along with the TikTok videos recorded, which will be available here.