Housing Rights impact in 2020

Housing Rights recently launched  Impact Report for 2020 highlights the impact that our services, our advisers and our caseworkers have had on people struggling with housing issues in Northern Ireland.

Making an impact through advice work

This year has presented us with many challenges, but we have adapted and ensured out services have remained for those in housing need.  

• In 2019/20 Housing Rights helpline provided advice to 8,435 clients and caseworkers dealt with 1,037 complex cases, with 90% satisfaction from clients.
• Across our services, Housing Rights advisers prevented homelessness for 1,183 clients, with estimated savings to the public purse in excess of £18m.
• Advisers alleviated homelessness for a further 493 clients.
• Advisers dealt with 12,156 cases across all services, which resulted in improved housing circumstances in 94% of cases.
• Advisers provided 1,425 advice sessions via email advice and online chat – a 60% increase on the previous year.
• Prison peer advisers provided induction sessions to 2,393 people on committal to the three NI prisons and assisted 1,378 clients with housing issues.

New services and projects in 2019/2020

• A new Housing Mediation Service was launched in 2019.
• The new Renters Voice project started in 2019 and is focused on engaging tenants in the private rented sector and building a strong voice for private tenants in Northern Ireland.

Some of the people we have helped this year

Alison’s Story

Alison was 22, with two young children and a third child on the way when she made contact with Renting Rights, our advice service for young adults. She was living in a ground floor social housing accommodation that had issues with damp and insects. Alison felt that she was stuck in the unsuitable property and was worried about the impact it was having on her children. They had already been prescribed inhalers from their GP due to the damp in the property.

When Alison made contact with us, we advocated on her behalf to her housing officer. We requested that she was awarded management transfer status given that the property required ‘major repairs or improvements’.

The status was granted and within 8 weeks she was rehoused permanently.

David’s Story

David fell into mortgage arrears as a result of losing his disability benefits. Davis made contact with Housing Rights when his home was close to being repossessed.

‘If it weren’t for the work of Housing Rights I would probably be dead. The Housing Rights caseworker bought me more time and as a result I was able to find a private buyer who is now my new landlord. At the time all this was happening I was seriously depressed and was suicidal. Thankfully, my mental state and my personal and financial life is a lot better thanks to the help Housing Rights gave me’ 

Karen’s story

Karen was pregnant and living in her parents home with her partner. There was a breakdown of the relationship between Karen and her parents. Karen and her partner were asked to leave, resulting in them both sleeping in their car. They needed to access private rented accommodation quickly when they contacted Housing Rights. They had enough money to pay rent in advance, but were unable to pay the £650 deposit needed to secure a tenancy. We were able to apply to the Vicar’s Relief Fund on their behalf to help them meet these costs. Their application was successful and Karen and her partner are in a 12 month private rented tenancy, giving  Karen peace of mind and comfort in the last stages of her pregnancy.

Measuring our impact

We have taken the challenge of demonstrating our work very seriously, and over the past few years and been improving processes and reporting. We have adopted an outcomes based approach to our work, which asks three fundamental questions:

• How much did we do?
• How well did we do it?
• How were peoples lives changed as a result?

You will see this structure throughout our impact report to help demonstrate the work of Housing Rights.