A week in the life of… a supported housing and tenancy support officer

Tuesday

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I try to focus on tenancy support, getting help for residents with learning difficulties or issues with substance misuse, gaining access to food vouchers, providing support to improve the condition of their home or helping them to move.

I help tenants to set up or maintain new tenancies, receive referrals from mental health or social services and gain referrals to GPs or healthcare settings. I can support tenants to gain access to assisted funds, to purchase white goods, for example, or to set up utilities.

I speak with on average 30 or 40 people per week, checking in with them. It’s about developing a rapport with the tenants and over the past three years at Adra I’ve built up trust. Sometimes tenants have a chaotic lifestyle and I can work with up to seven different agencies working to support one resident, so you have to have strong interpersonal skills.

I’m always striving to keep tenants and their families in their home which, due to drug or alcohol addiction, they may have thought was beyond their reach. It’s about giving the tenants the tools to gain positive outcomes by doing things themselves, as opposed to doing everything for them, as they need to run their own lives and their tenancies and develop their independence.

Wednesday

If I’m concerned about a tenant and their welfare, I have the option to refer them to social services, to gain support for mental health issues, or to Citizens Advice for help with benefit claims.

Every day is different – some are quieter than others – and there is never a strict routine as you never know how long a visit or call with each tenant will take. You never know when a tenant is going to call or message you with an issue and request for help.

For each role, I have weekly virtual team meetings, where we get together and discuss any issues.

Thursday

The tenancy support role can in many ways be similar to the supported housing role in that I work with a lot of the same agencies, such as the Jobcentre or social services, but with tenancy support the level of support is more intense and short term. This is due to a maximum of two years’ funding, although to support a tenant for more than a year is rare.

I will contact these tenants a minimum of once a week and we will go through what issues they have and how we can help. Each tenancy support tenant will receive intense help for a few hours a week initially, which reduces over time. Supported housing tenants can receive up to 45 minutes of support per week, which can be three shorter visits or calls or one longer one.

There may also be training or other meetings put in my calendar. For example, if I’m working with a tenant who is also working with social services, I may have to attend a multi-disciplinary team meeting to discuss how I’ve been working with a tenant and their progress.

Friday

As well as my contact with the tenants, I have the usual paperwork that goes with it; the end of the week can be a good time to catch up and input this data, although it is a continual work in progress. Each tenant for both supported housing and tenancy support has individual support plans which are reviewed every six months. My role is funded by the Housing Support Grant in Wales and we submit scores to the Welsh government.

We do an initial assessment where they are scored on various aspects of living and what help and support is required. We then set out what we want to achieve, what help is required and where this can be received.

Supported housing and tenancy support is about making customers independent, feeling safe, managing their accommodation and supporting their physical and mental health. We persevere, such as if they have issues with hoarding, we raise the fire safety risks.