Housing Support

What can you expect from us?

We offer information, advice and a range of services to help new tenants to settle into their new home and support existing tenants who are struggling to manage their tenancy.

This guide sets out the service you can expect if you receive housing support from us. It describes what we do, the standards of service you can expect and how we will check we are meeting them. It also sets out the things we expect you to do to ensure your tenancy runs smoothly and you are happy in your home.

Our responsibilities

We will:

• Provide you with a dedicated support worker to work with you for an agreed period of time. Where appropriate, we will also make referrals to other agencies who offer specialised help, if you agree to this.
• Offer you a furnished tenancy if you are eligible and one is available when you sign up.
• Help you settle into your new home and provide you with help to claim benefits, sort out your utility bills and manage your money.  
• Tell you about your rights and responsibilities, provide you with information about your new home and advise you on the rent that is due when you sign your tenancy agreement.
• Visit you within the first few weeks of moving in, to check you have settled in, agree your housing support plan and answer any questions you may have;
• Provide you with access to our tenant training programme if you need help to look after your home, live independently or manage your finances.  
• Contact you regularly to ensure you are managing and help you resolve any problems you may have with regards to your tenancy.
• Support you to access other services and liaise with other organisations on your behalf, if you agree to this.
• Support you to build links in your local community, if you want help to do this.  

What we expect in return

Your responsibilities:

• To adhere to the conditions of your tenancy agreement, including looking after your home and garden.
• To pay your rent first, in advance all of the time
• Allowing us access to your home at agreed times.
• To let us know of any changes in your circumstances that may affect your tenancy.
• To respond promptly if we try to contact you or ask you for information.
• To engage with any support services that are offered to you.
• Tell us your views about the service. This will enable us to monitor the quality of the service provided and identify any potential improvements.

Measuring success

We will know if we are getting things right by:

• Monitoring and reporting our performance against our agreed performance measures.
• Asking you how happy you are with the service we have provided; and
• Publishing details on the work we do in our customer newsletter and website.

We will report our performance against these standards in our annual report to tenants. Regular updates will also be provided to our Customer Review Group and other tenants groups, who are responsible for reviewing how well we are doing and offering constructive challenge.