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From the frontline - Lucy Hancox
Lucy Hancox, housing officer at Falcon Housing Association, talks about creating positive outcomes for tenants
Tell us about your job
I oversee housing and property management throughout the North East, ensuring positive relationships with tenants, care providers, commissioners and partners, with the aim to promote and provide specialised supported housing for tenants with learning disabilities or on the autistic spectrum, people with physical disabilities and people suffering with mental health problems.
How did you get into housing?
When I was studying for my A levels at sixth form, I started working part-time for a care provider. While at university I continued working there and I became more involved in providing support to service users.
I hoped to build on my degree to become an art therapist.
I later transitioned into housing management because I realised the importance of tenant needs and how housing can improve the quality of their lives.
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What’s the best part of your job?
I adore interacting with care staff and the service users.
This ensures that together we can build stronger working relationships, creating a positive environment where the tenant is happy and at ease.
Helping the tenants as well as having an impact on their standard of living motivates me each day.
I enjoy creating positive outcomes for tenants and hearing their success stories, especially when this enables the tenant to move on to a more independent future.
What is the worst part?
When tenants move to independent living and either poor support plans or a failure to review support plans promptly means the tenants have to move back into residential living.
What would you change about the sector?
I would place a greater emphasis on tenant choice and building aspirations. I’d ensure that all tenants were provided with the right housing and support services to embrace independent living.
If you could be prime minister for the day, what would you do?
Where to start!? I would look to remodel and future-proof the current NHS system, focusing initially on increasing bed numbers driven by what is best for patients and communities and not by lack of funding.
What’s the most private thing you’d be willing to admit to your colleagues?
Almost anything, because I’m very open with my work colleagues and there is nothing which I won’t have a laugh with them about.
