1 / 9

‘Persistence Overcomes Resistance’

‘Persistence Overcomes Resistance’. Richard Bellis Head of Supported Housing (London). Presentation date 2 March 2011. What I’ll cover. Affinity Sutton’s approach Role of Neighbourhood Auditors Investigative process Tenancy Check Program Successes Observations .

moe
Download Presentation

‘Persistence Overcomes Resistance’

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ‘Persistence Overcomes Resistance’ Richard Bellis Head of Supported Housing (London) Presentation date 2 March 2011

  2. What I’ll cover • Affinity Sutton’s approach • Role of Neighbourhood Auditors • Investigative process • Tenancy Check Program • Successes • Observations

  3. Affinity Sutton’s approach • Employed 2 Neighborhood Auditors • Funding through SELHP helped us to: • Train staff • Develop paperwork • Take on more complex cases • Raise fraud awareness generally • Set up dedicated fraud phone line and email address • Purchased Experian ‘CitizenView’

  4. Neighbourhood Auditors Role • To ensure that the legal tenant is living at the property and the property is not being illegally sublet. • Work on NFI database • To update information about tenants which will help with the future planning of our services • To provide information on the services that we provide • To identify residents that require additional support

  5. Investigative Process • Referral received • Unannounced visit • Verify Identification/Confirm Occupancy • ‘7day letter’ to contact us for appointment • Further ‘stronger letter’ • NTQ • If suspicious following visit/no response to NTQ further investigations carried out

  6. Tenancy Check Program • Carry out ‘Block Audits’ • Work with Housing Officers to identify blocks to prioritise • Don’t leave until they’ve verified every tenancy! • Verified 172 tenancies • Recovered 5 properties this way

  7. Successes • 33 properties recovered in total • 4 ongoing court cases • Using CLG figures that’s worth £2.4 million • 6 recovered through NFI • Prevented 2 residents obtaining stays in arrears cases • 8 people referred for support • Residents happy that we are taking action

  8. Observations • Good information sharing essential • Subletting linked to other problems/crime • Need to work with Local Authority • Tenancy misuse, not just fraud. • When there’s a change to a tenancy agreement, there’s an opportunity for fraud • It’s a game of ‘Brinkmanship’ • ‘If it doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t’ • ‘Persistence Overcomes Resistance’

More Related