Spotlight on the Specialist Housing Services Team
Wrekin’s Specialist Housing Services Team provide a wealth of advice for people across our communities, including:
- Advice for people under threat of homelessness
- Acting as Second Officers for Shropshire Council Housing Options Team
- Management and Letting of our portfolio of private rented properties
- Advice and a leasing service for private landlords
Sally Chapman is a Housing Advisor with the team and is here to give some insight into life within the team.
“I think the biggest thing for me is smashing people’s perceptions.
“I know a lot of people have preconceptions about individuals who find themselves facing the prospect of being made homeless – but we deal with people from all walks of life.
“In recent times, I’ve offered advice to everyone - from a consultant at a local hospital who wanted to talk about housing options for his family, to an elderly lady who was worried after her landlord took the decision to sell the property she called home for 20 years.
“Essentially, we are here to advise people who are at immediate threat of being made homeless. We work with people to identify and find possible places for them to live, help with completing paperwork and signposting people if we can’t help them in the first instance.
“Another service which is provided by the Advice Team of is our Bond scheme. This is part of our contract with Shropshire Council and is for people in the Shropshire Council area who are struggling to pay a deposit for a property. Quite a few landlords accept our bonds, but not all as we don’t physically hand over any cash up front and anyone applying has to go through our financial and eligibility checks. We provide the bond to the landlord and the tenant pays us back through affordable monthly payments - this means they don’t have to find the deposit themselves.
“We also provide services for a number of private landlords across Shropshire. We can help them find tenants and even manage the leases for them. We’ve built up really good relationships with these landlords. We also have really strong relationships with different sectors, working alongside probation, social workers and mental health services to name a few. Each member of the team specialises in different areas including prison leavers, domestic abuse, rough sleepers and mental health.
“The key thing is – we don’t turn anybody away. Like I said, we assist people from all different backgrounds – providing you engage with us, we’re here to help.
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but no two days are the same. One minute we can be advising a young couple who are looking to get on the property ladder, the next minute we are offering advice to someone recently released from prison.
“We make a difference to people’s lives with every single phone call that comes our way. We have definitely seen an increase in the demand for our services during the pandemic and we always go out of our way to help people.
“Some of the situations people find themselves in really stick with you. During the pandemic, I was supporting a lady who was suffering domestic abuse from her partner. He had moved her to Bristol in a bid to completely cut her off from her family. It was during the first lockdown so she was with her abuser 24/7 – along with her 18-month-old daughter.
“I worked closely with her. We managed to secure her a property near to her family in Shropshire but I was so worried about her – especially after she took the decision to tell her partner that she was leaving. She had been let down by all the support services, but with her consent I was able to contact her family to let them know about the situation and ensure she was safe. She was able to move and is in a much better place now. Our Support Service is now working with her.
“I am proud to work in this team. We help so many people with different circumstances and every call we make or receive makes a difference in that person’s life.”
Visit our Specialist Housing Services page.
13th July 2021