8H
OUSING
, C
ARE
& S
UPPORT
•
2.4
December 1999 © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Limited
Vulnerable tenants in
general needs housing:
MARK ROGERS
Director of Housing Services,
Circle 33
Large numbers of vulnerable
tenants liv
e in gener
al needs
housing. They may be people
taking up new tenancies or
existing tenants who become
vulnerable for one reason or
another. This can easily become
a problem for the managers of
gener
al needs housing.
In this
e
xample a specialist team is
used to give support to a small
caseload of tenants.
AbSTrACT
How can mainstream services
help people cope?
practice
A
t Circle 33, in common
with many other housing associa-
tions, we find that we have large
numbers of vulnerable tenants
living in general needs housing.
They may be people taking up new
tenancies or existing tenants who
become vulner
able for one reason
or another
. This can easily become
a problem for the managers of
general needs housing, who work
with large numbers of tenants and
big portfolios of property and may
not have the time or the knowledge
to deal with the issues.
Local authority nominations
T
he situation can be exacerbated
by local authorities’ nominating
people to our housing without
adequate support pac
kages. It is not
uncommon for local authorities
to operate on the belief that all
information about the background
of a nominee is confidential.
Rather than offering or organising
appropriate help at the outset of a
tenancy, we find that the needs of
our tenants may emerge only when
a problem has arisen and
sometimes w
hen it is too late.
Our tenants may need
support for a number of reasons:
•
Some may simply have difficulty
reading and need help with
forms and claiming benefits.
• Others may have physical
disabilities or ha
v
e become
more vulner
able with age.
• There may be mental health
issues or learning diffi
culties.
• There may be a history of
alcohol or drug abuse.