Southern Housing tackle under occupation - case study

Jean Griggs has recently moved into her one-bedroom bungalow in Stanford Le Hope in Thurrock.

For the previous 10 years she'd lived in a three-bedroom house within the Rookery Farm estate (managed by Southern Housing Group) in Dagenham with her adult son.

Mrs Griggs wanted to downsize, seeking a one-bedroom home, and Southern Housing Group was able to help her in her quest providing her with a new house that was more suited to her needs.

Mrs Griggs' son was on the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham's waiting list and they were able to find a suitable home for him.  Meanwhile the Griggs' former house was rented to a family who needed more space and had been previously on Newham's housing waiting list.

Southern Housing Group is working closely with east London boroughs to effectively tackle the dual housing problem of under-occupation and overcrowding.

The issues of under occupation and/or overcrowding in social housing include adult children of existing residents sometimes experiencing problems finding alternative accommodation.

Another significant problem is helping residents to overcome their psychological and practical difficulties with moving and providing them with the help they need.

Mrs Griggs said: "I love my house.  I'm really happy here and there's less work for me to do as it's all on one level. There are people in this housing scheme who are around my age who live on their own too; we are becoming quite a community."

Marisa Ling, Southern Housing Group's Regional Operations Manager for the Thames Gateway Region which is responsible for the homes, said that we can take a holistic and practical approach.

"This is because we are unconstrained by council borders and can successfully rehouse residents in more suitable homes in the region, including: Newham, Barking and Dagenham and along the Thames corridor into Essex and Kent.

"We are proud of the instrumental role that we played enabling Mrs Griggs to move out of her old house and into her new home.  Linne Griffin (pictured above) helped Mrs Griggs when she moved and this made a tremendous difference to her.

"Mrs Griggs' former home was a much needed social house that has now been fully occupied by a young family," said Marisa.

"We support the boroughs' housing teams by providing much needed, high-quality housing across the region thus offering a holistic approach to social housing."

Southern Housing Group's Head of Lettings Mike Griffin, said that while he was exploring the range and amount of housing schemes owned by Southern Housing Group across the Thames Gateway region, the landlord is fulfilling Government policy and helping our tenants.

He explained: "Southern Housing Group is part of the East London Housing Partnership which is considering adopting the Perfect Fit scheme.  That scheme started in south-east London and is being taken up by housing associations in other parts of London as well.

"It helps under-occupying tenants to move to smaller, more manageable homes, releasing their larger homes for families, just as staff in our Thames Gateway office did for Mrs Griggs.

"There is a desperate housing shortage and we are supporting the Government's targets by successfully placing residents in suitable housing. Southern Housing Group is close to announcing a strategy that will tackle these issues across all the areas where we have homes," said Mike.

Tackling the issues of under-occupancy are at the heart of Government policy.

The Department of Communities and Local Government stated at a recent conference:

• That 69,000 homes are under occupied in London.
• 45,000 are under occupied in the South East. 
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is offering further incentives to residents to move out of their homes where they do not fully occupy the space.
• Government recommends engaging registered social landlords to tackle under occupation.

A joint project between the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Chartered Institute of Housing resulted in the publication of the overcrowding action plan in December 2007 to tackle the issue.

People seeking to apply for a social-rental property should register by logging onto Housing Options www.housingoptions.co.uk or contacting the housing team at their local authority. -ends-