This week, NFA members meet at annual conference for the first time since 2019. Helen is one of our keynote speakers, addressing the issue uppermost in every delegate’s mind just now – what can we do to help our customers and fellow tenants through the biggest cost of living crisis since the early 1990s? 

FOR MANY of us, our home is the foundation on which we build our lives. It should be somewhere safe where we can take refuge from stormy seas. When we lose that refuge – through domestic abuse, unaffordable rents and fear of eviction, or battling unsafe and unhealthy living conditions – it can be devastating.

Housing providers play a pivotal role in people’s lives, so what can they do to help residents stay afloat as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies?

In a recent research project for the Independent Food Network and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Tom Pollard spoke to people living on a low income and relying on foodbanks for essentials. Pushed to the Edge: poverty, food banks and mental health is based on interviews with people using food banks in November and December 2021. They described a daily reality of unaffordable bills, debt and constantly calculating how to make pennies stretch further:

“The money’s gone as soon as you get it because of the gas and electric. That’s why I walk everywhere. Even to the food bank [about 5 miles away] – I’ve got no choice.”

“We’ve got so many debts that we’ve got to pay – the gas, electric, water. And then you’ve got [loan agencies] demanding money. I wish we could pay them.”

“I know the price of everything because that’s how my mind has to do it. ‘Right, I’ve got £6.00, I need to feed six people. How am I going to do that? Packet of eggs, that’s 95p, loaf of bread – that’s 65p, butter – that’s £1.05. That’s what I have to do. It’s how I have to live, counting pennies all the time.”

The constant grinding pressure of this way of life took a terrible toll on many people’s mental as well as physical health:

“I’m worrying constantly: Who’s going to knock at my door? Am I going to get a letter? I had a fright – they sent me a letter ‘You’re on housing arrears’ a warning or whatever. Oh my God, my anxiety went through the roof. I got on the phone. I was begging them ‘Please don’t evict me, please don’t evict me.’”

“It feels like there’s a huge great weight. You know, I can feel it…It’s like a black cloud.”

One in five people in the UK is living in poverty, including 2.1 million pensioners, 4.3 million children and 8.1 million working age adults. This year we expect about 600,000 more to be pulled into poverty due to the government’s decision to uprate benefits by so much less than the rate of inflation.

It is especially worrying that the proportion in deep poverty has been rising and that the numbers in destitution (the very deepest form of poverty in the UK) rose sharply even before the pandemic. Official statistics show that more than four in ten of those getting Universal Credit can’t afford to eat properly.

Paid work reduces the risk of being pulled into poverty, but it does not offer reliable protection – seven in ten children in poverty are in a working family. There are particularly high poverty rates among workers in the accommodation and catering, retail and social care sectors. Disabled workers, lone parents and those from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black groups are especially likely to get stuck in in-work poverty.

Housing costs are a major driver of poverty, with rents pulling people into poverty and forcing them to cut back on other essentials. This also traps some in homes that are unsafe and unhealthy: one in seven social homes don’t meet the Decent Homes Standard, with nearly half of those having a ‘category one safety hazard’ such as dangerous wiring, vermin infestations or a leaking roof.

So, what can the housing providers who make up the membership of the NFA – and all other social housing providers – do?

First, they can do all in their power to make sure the homes they provide are affordable, safe, welcoming and healthy.

Second, they can ensure that the people they serve are always treated with respect. Living in poverty often entails a myriad of humiliations, feeling that you are treated as a nuisance. Knowing that you don’t have any other options can be soul destroying – putting up with being treated badly at work because you can’t survive without the shifts or calling the landlord again and again about a leak or infestation and being ignored. Housing providers’ staff can strive to always be the person in someone’s life who does listen, who treats them as someone who matters, who acts on what they say.

Third, they can connect people with other sources of help. Benefit checks to ensure residents are getting everything they are entitled to. Local authority welfare assistance and council or charity grants. Employment support. Mental health support. Debt advice and affordable credit. Local community groups and volunteering opportunities. Poverty can be a lonely experience, eroding people’s confidence. Getting involved in local community projects can be a lifeline, helping people to connect with their community and rebuild their confidence.

Finally, we should think about how those working for housing providers may be feeling. The last two years of the pandemic have been gruelling for many. They are now facing a year in which the cost of living is shooting up – affecting staff as well as residents – and this is likely to result in more people going hungry and being cold, scared and stressed.

If we want staff to treat residents with respect and empathy, it is vital that they feel supported and valued themselves. We need to treat one another with compassion and respect and take seriously the risk of burnout – caring for ourselves and our teams as well as residents.