SCC's "Housing + " scheme

This is new today from The Sheffield City Council. Had you heard of it before now? Does it do what it's supposed to do?

On 3rd October 2016, Sheffield City Council launched Housing+, a more personalised service that our customers helped to develop.

It works by having a Neighbourhood Officer look after a number of households in their geographical ‘patch’. The main benefits are:

• More contact with customers in their own homes

• Teams that work more closely with other services

• Better access to services that improve health and well being

• Targeted work at the early stages of rent arrears and anti-social behaviour

• Officers having a more visible presence on estates

• A service based more on the needs of individuals

• Better links to other council and partner services

Six months on, this new approach to delivering the housing service is working well.

So far we have completed around 2,000 home visits and Neighbourhood Officers are managing around 850 Housing+ cases, which have varying degrees of complexity.

Already some success stories are emerging, such as the following real life case studies:

• A Neighbourhood Officer visited an 84-year-old tenant, who was sleeping on the floor because her house was full of hoarded items. The Officer contacted social services and, with the help of estates staff, cleared some of the clutter. As the lady had been ill, the Officer arranged for her to go to the doctor, something she hadn’t done in years. She is now living in a one-bedroom, ground floor flat after the Officer helped her move and furnish her new property. She has regular visits to make sure she continues to be happy in her new home

• A tenant with a good history of paying her rent suddenly fell into arrears, so her Neighbourhood Officer visited and discovered that she was not coping well after a relationship breakdown – her husband had moved out with the children. The Officer got her a priority to move to a smaller home that she could afford – freeing up her larger property for another family. They also successfully applied for Discretionary Housing Payments on her behalf to help with the arrears

We will integrate Housing+ fully over the coming months with further training and support for staff in their new roles.

To find out more about Housing+, check out our website at http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/councilhousing, call: 0114 293 0000 or 0114 205 3333 or email: planningthefuture@sheffield.gov.uk