4 SOCIAL LANDLORDS
Here's how we've helped social housing providers and their tenants
Case Study 1: Mary
Mary was referred to our service as she was at risk of homelessness. Her case had been to court already and any default on her court order would lead to application to a warrant of eviction. She had failed to keep up with the court order and her landlord had applied for an eviction and the date set as her rent arrears where about £3000.
We carried out our needs assessment and found out that she was under occupying the property by a bedroom and was therefore subject to bedroom tax. She suffered from severe depression following an attack on her. She had no benefits in payment as she was struggling to go out. Her housing benefits payments had stopped when her employment and support allowance was terminated and she had failed to apply for anything to replace this. Mary had a 10 years old daughter which meant she was receiving her child tax credits and child benefits and this is what they were living on. They were living on the breadline sometimes having to choose between paying their bills, heating and food.
We worked with Mary and she applied for employment and support allowance. She was supported to apply for housing benefits and a request for backdated discretionary payment was made. An application to suspend the warrant of eviction was made. Help to clear her rent arrears was accessed and a grant of £3000 was raised which meant these were fully cleared and she could register for re-housing so that she could downsize to a smaller property. She reengaged with health services for her health.
She is currently receiving monthly allowances to help her financially through a trade charity. She has now settled and is focused on getting better and looking for a new home so that they can start afresh with her family. Our 3-monthly review showed that her account was in credit by £90.00, has maintained her rent payments.
Case Study 2: Brian
Brian was in full-time employment, but he was struggling to maintain his rent payments had debts over £8000 and rent arrears of £1556.90 and had disengaged from his landlord.
We carried out an assessment of his needs and found out that he had a gambling problem which is why he was struggling to maintain his payments. Brian had also taken a full furnisher pack and as he was working he was liable for this which meant his rent was over £98.00 per week. He also had many health problems and the lack of flooring in his flat had a huge impact on his health as it was very cold due to concrete flooring. He had multiple debts that he had taken out when he went on the sick and as he had just started a new job did not qualify for sick pay. Unfortunately, he was not aware that he could apply for sickness benefits through the Department of Work and Pensions.
Brian was supported to set up payroll deductions as efforts to set up standing orders or direct debits had failed due to his addiction. This meant that his rent and council tax were paid regularly removing the risk of losing his introductory tenancy. We supported him to remove the furnisher pack and this reduced his payable rent. His living conditions were improved by accessing flooring and he received some debt counselling through a partner organisation. He was signposted to an addiction service for support. He has maintained his rent payment and his arrears have reduced to under £200.
2 Way Tenancy Social Housing
How we can help social housing providers:
2 Way Tenancy Solutions has a track record in assisting social landlords and its tenants in avoiding evictions and re-paying rent arrears that is a suitable solution for all parties. We have helped social housing providers to:
Save money: 2 Way Tenancy Solutions have a track record in reducing tenancy evictions (homelessness), which can cost a housing provider up to £3000 for each eviction, reduce void costs and loss of rental income and reduce re-letting administration costs.
Support Social Housing Providers Management and Staff: 2 Way Tenancy Solutions provide an outsourced service that has a track record of engaging with tenants in a productive way and reducing homelessness. This takes the strain and stress of having to deal with tenants that are difficult to engage with to deal with rent arrears or eviction. We can help Social Housing providers to maintain their tenancy targets and customer satisfaction ratings.
Maintain social cohesion: 2 Way Tenancy Solutions, by providing solutions to tenants to reduce rent arrears and increasing financial capability, can assist in maintaining cohesive communities by reducing evictions. Evictions lead to empty stock, which can attract vandalism and anti-social behaviour; empty stock may also lead to hard to let areas and reduces regeneration and community cohesion. 2 Way Tenancy Solutions have a track record of engaging with those “threatened with homelessness” at crisis point and often engage with vulnerable members of the society such as care leavers, ex-service personnel, parents with children that feel threatened by social services intervention, those with drug and/or alcohol issues and those with mental health issues.
Homeless reduction: 2 Way Tenancy has developed a track record in homelessness reduction through their tenancy and financial capability programmes, with tenants who could have faced evictions seeing their tenancies converting from introductory to secure, starter tenancies to assured tenancies and those threatened with homelessness and/or being served Section 21 Notices keeping their tenancies and homes. With the introduction of the Homeless Reduction Act 2017, Local Housing Authorities are required to offer more support to tenants that are threatened with homelessness. 2 Way Tenancy Solutions can assist LHA by providing a crisis service to engage with tenants that are hard to reach.