Community Responses to Cost of Living Crisis: Three Case Studies
When times are tough, it’s often communities that step up first. Across Wales, community groups have responded to the cost-of-living crisis with remarkable speed and imagination. Their initiatives range from reducing the cost of essentials and social activities, to helping people access vital advice and support. In doing so, they ensure that people’s dignity is protected – offering help in ways that are friendly, approachable, and free from stigma. Crucially, this support is rooted in the places it’s needed most: local, familiar spaces at the heart of every community.
1. Trowbridge and St Mellons: Hope St Mellons – A Platform of Action
In the heart of Trowbridge and St Mellons, Hope St Mellons has become a vital hub for community-led responses to the cost-of-living crisis. Far more than just a service provider, it acts – as one community worker puts it – as "a platform of action for people to come together and to do things."
By offering a flexible community space and a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, Hope St Mellons supports smaller local groups turn their ideas into reality. “There are lots of ideas out in the community,” explained a staff member, “but if you don’t have all the pieces to make that happen, it just remains an idea.” Hope St Mellons helps to connect those pieces by providing the resources, support, and expertise that help local groups thrive.
As a result, the area now benefits from a well-used community pantry, a range of affordable social activities – many of which offer informal mental health support – and a flourishing community garden, all of which are still going strong three years after the term “cost-of-living crisis” became part of everyday conversation.
2. Caerau: Connecting for the Benefit of the Community
In the village of Caerau, at the top of Llynfi Valley, a network of key community organisations has come together to provide a comprehensive range of support for local residents.
This includes the work of the Caerau Development Trust (CDT). Its community shop serves around 250 people each week through a "pay what you think is fair" model, while Café Cwtch provides 500 affordable meals weekly. CDT also hosts vital advice services including Citizens Advice, mental health counselling, health checks, and drug and alcohol support.
Further up the village, the Noddfa Youth and Community project complements this work by running a food pantry, hosting the local food bank, and offering signposting to a range of support such as back-to-school grants for families, social tariffs for water bills, and access to free IT facilities. Their youth and kids’ clubs also offer affordable social activities, ensuring that no young person misses out on opportunities because their family is struggling on a low income.
Rather than operating in isolation, the two organisations work together, sharing resources where possible, coordinating their services, and planning collectively to reduce duplication and help build a more joined-up system of local support.
3. Maesgeirchen: A Community Hub Tackling the Cost of Living Crisis
In the face of rising costs and financial hardship, the community of Maesgeirchen in north Wales has developed one of the most comprehensive and integrated responses to the cost-of-living crisis. Through its Support Hub, funded by Cyngor Gwynedd (the local authority), this small community demonstrates how local action can truly deliver holistic support – going well beyond the scope of traditional food banks or advice services.
The Maesgeirchen Support Hub serves as a clear "one-stop-shop" for residents, bringing multiple forms of support together under one roof. This includes Citizens Advice, access to welfare benefits and employment information, mental health and wellbeing support, and local energy advisors – all working side by side to make cross referrals simple and ensuring that anyone seeking help with one issue can quickly access support for other related matters.
The range of assistance offered through the Hub is practical and far-reaching, and since its inception it has provided more than 3,300 instances of support, including:
· Immediate financial relief: £20 Asda gift vouchers through "In Their Shoes" funding, £30 emergency fuel vouchers (supporting approximately 20 people per week), and food grants distributed through schools.
· Mental health and wellbeing: Weekly art therapy drop-ins, grief café sessions, one-to-one counselling, and social prescribing connections to community activities.
· Practical support: Energy advice and fuel poverty schemes, links to the Discretionary Assistance Fund, a free bike repair service (83 bikes repaired in just 5 weeks) and life skills workshops.
The Hub's “open-door” policy means anyone can drop in – for advice, support, or simply a friendly chat over a cup of tea. It also serves as a local gathering place, hosting a Games Club with approximately 20 regular attendees and a Creative Hub featuring a nearly complete recording studio with donated musical equipment.
Despite its success, the Hub faces significant challenges. Funding remains the most pressing issue, with previous sources such as the Shared Prosperity Fund having ended. Current grants are often short-term – sometimes only lasting three months – creating uncertainty that hampers long-term planning and staff retention.
Together, these examples show how community organisations across Wales are leading the way in responding to the cost-of-living crisis – not with one-size-fits-all solutions, but with local knowledge, creativity and compassion. Each initiative reflects a deep understanding of what people truly need: practical help, delivered with dignity, in places that are trusted, by people who care.
For more information on the cost-of-living, please read our latest report: Building Resilience – Community Responses to the Cost-of-Living Crisis.