Tenancy sustainment policy

Approved by residents stampIntroduction

At CKH we are committed to supporting residents in sustaining their tenancies and remaining in their homes wherever possible. Our Tenancy Sustainment team offers intensive, personalised support for those who need it most. This policy outlines the support they offer, who is eligible and how it can be accessed.

Our commitment to you

We will support residents who are identified as vulnerable and at risk of losing their tenancies to remain in their homes. We will work with other agencies where necessary to provide the best level of support for a resident’s individual needs.

We aim to empower residents to manging their tenancies independently but in recognition that we all need help sometimes. Our aim is to provide or procure flexible support as and when needed, in the form of advice, guidance, sign posting or practical help, for example, via money advice, welfare benefits and energy advice services. We may also compliment statutory support from that of Adult or Children Services and Mental Health Services.

How we define vulnerability

We consider those most at risk of tenancy failure as:

  • Anyone who experiences difficulties with everyday living to the extent that they need some additional support to make sure they are not at any disadvantage and /or to sustain the occupancy of their home. We also recognise the impact family member/s with identified need can have the whole household.
  • Young people [aged 16-25] or those of whom have not held a tenancy before, namely on account of inexperience.
  • There are several organic or circumstantial needs which may lead to a resident finding themselves in a situation that risks the failure of their tenancy, in addition to this. We recognise that it is unhelpful to make assumptions about individuals who may for possess characteristics of a demographic; for example, not all older people are vulnerable, despite evidence suggesting many are. We also recognise that identified needs can present in a fluctuating way; people can be in need at different times and for different reasons; for example, someone struggling with a period of bereavement. People with enduring mental health needs may also experience long periods of time when they feel well.

The Tenancy Sustainment team ensure those with a support need are provided the responses and tools to feel empowered and in control of their everyday life, in addition to enhancing their ability to manage and sustain their tenancy. 

 

Our Tenancy Sustainment team

Our Tenancy Sustainment team work collaboratively with internal and external teams to support those residents identified as vulnerable to help them keep their tenancy.

They offer three streams of support directly to residents:

  • Settling in support
  • Enabling support
  • Enduring support


Settling in support

It is recognised that initial contact with residents is prime opportunity in setting expectations in terms of the landlord / resident relationship. The aim of this support is to ensure residents have the resources, skills, abilities and understanding of the tenant / landlord relationship, including the paramount responsibility of rent payment, in addition to obligations set out in their tenancy agreement to enable them to establish, and sustain tenancies; support will be provided for up to the first 12 weeks of tenancy.

We will:

  • Sign post you and work alongside support services, including out Money Adviser, Income Management team and community based support.
  • Ensure you are aware of the need to pay your rent and support with benefit claims.
  • If you are already receiving support, such as from the Leaving Care team, we will seek your consent to speak to them about your ongoing support needs.
  • Ensure you move into the home.
  • Support you in registering for MyCKH.
  • Assist you with registering for Council Tax.
  • Support you with getting your utilities set up and clarify payment options and how to top up your meter.
  • Explore your education, employment or training status and discuss your future options, signposting you to suitable support.
  • Explore other benefits streams with you.
  • Support you in obtaining furniture and white goods.
  • Explore any additional mental and physical health or dependency needs you have and support you in accessing the help you need with these.
  • Assess how able you are to maintain a good home condition.
  • Help you to find your way around your new neighbourhood.
  • Continue to remind you of the need to pay your rent and support if you are struggling.

The support will be a mix of home visiting and telephone call support. We will review how things are going throughout our involvement, and aim to ensure you are settled in to your tenancy within three months. However, our other support services remain available at all times, and we can pick up support again, if your circumstances change.

Enabling support

The aim of enabling support is to provide short to medium term support if you need it to deal with a specific issue impacting your ability to maintain and sustain your tenancy. It is considered as an option if you are at risk of or are currently breaching your tenancy and typically acts as an intervention in a time of crisis or need; for instance, if you are struggling with arrears, or with maintaining a good standard of home or garden condition.

Our support will offer guidance, advice, and a springboard for you to use your existing personal asset base to take ownership of your tenancy, grow your own independence and/or access long term statutory support when needed.

Our Tenancy Sustainment Advisor will work closely with you to help you to understand your situation and identify positive steps to improvement. We can provide advice on benefits, budgeting, debt management, support you to access local services, develop life skills and give you advice on employment and training. We play a key role in multi-agency working contributing added value to support plans for specific tenants. 

The support we offer will be both person centred, and asset based and will depend on the level and type of need in addition your, or your household’s circumstances. Some assistance may be provided by directly by our staff, or via third parties (Citizens Advice, Adult Social Services etc.). In many cases it will be more appropriate for assistance to be provided by specialist, external agencies following a referral by us.

You will generally be referred into this support by another CKH team if they identify a need when speaking to you or when visiting your home. We need you to engage in the support we offer, and reserve the right to remove support if you fail to engage with us and do not keep meetings or carry out actions asked of you. This could result in in enforcement action being taken against you, and your home remains at risk if you continue to break your tenancy agreement.

 

Enduring support

Enduring support is available for a limited number of residents who are likely to require some form of support throughout the lifetime of their tenancy; without this and a level of monitoring, the tenant will be will likely breach or fail their tenancy.

We will look to create a plan with you that will cover:

  • An understanding of the support you have received and continue to receive as well as how you have engaged with this support.
  • The nature of your current support needs and how that impacts on tenancy sustainability.
  • How we can support you with healthy behaviours around your rent payments.
  • Set milestones for you to achieve, with our help.
  • A discussion around how we will monitor your tenancy and how frequently we will contact you.
  • The expectations we have around how you will engage with us and progress through the plan and show improvement.

We will continue to monitor your progress against the plan and expect you to engage with us, attend meetings and allow us access to your home as required. We will end the support if you refuse to engage and work with us or other agencies as we have agreed.

We will also close your case if:

  • It is determined that you no longer require the support and can maintain your tenancy without it.
  • You move home, such as into retirement housing, or you end your tenancy and move into housing not managed by CKH.
  • There is another change to your circumstances, such as a member of your household who was identified as having a support need moves out, a change to support you receive from statutory services, or an issue such as hoarding has been resolved.

 

Follow up

Whenever we close involvement with the Tenancy Sustainment team, the tenancy continues to be monitored for up to a year after. This allows us the opportunity to contact you should we note any concerns understand this further, and if required, offer a further period of support. You can contact us at any time if you feel you need further support at any time following the initial support.

 

Further information:

Who is responsible for managing the Tenancy Sustainment Policy?

The Service Manager, Resident Support, reporting into the Assistant Director of Operations is responsible for the Tenancy Sustainment Policy.

Information sharing

Cross Keys Homes has an information sharing agreement with key agencies and contractors to share information in relation to the delivery of our services. Information shared must be relevant and the Data Protection Procedure adhered to when handling data. You can find more information about how we manage your data in our Transparency and Privacy Policy.

Monitoring and review

The Tenancy Sustainment Policy was written and approved in November 2022 and will be reviewed every two years – next review November 2024.