I think that the past 18 months has made us all reflect on what we are doing with our lives, what we want to achieve, where we are heading and who we are helping - I know we all have at Bannan and Sulley. With this new thought in my head I have seen a lot more coverage in the industry press about creating spaces and homes for those most in need and it has made our team start to rethink our direction and focus.
There are an array of people in need of safe housing in the UK and people can find themselves without a home for a variety of reasons. This can be from former tenancy arrears, lack of tenancy history, mental health, substance abuse or poor credit history, but they all end up with a tenant not being able to secure a property. According to the Big Issue last official count, 66.7 million people lived in the UK with one in every 200 people finding themselves without a home (Shelter’s 2019). This is a real problem and one that many landlords and developers wish to help solve.
In the article I am not to touch on the reasons why landlords and developers cannot help towards the house shortage as much as they would like, but instead I want to look at how we can help those in need.
Bannan and Sulley have looked to offer property to vulnerable people by working with the council and social care providers to offer our future flats to those most in need.
There are huge benefits for all parties involved. Adult social care providers offer older people or those living with a disability or physical or mental illness to live an independently life in a safe place. They are able to work with a developer from the start to give an indication of what locations and facilities they need and then secure these on long term lets. This allows the tenant to have a home that is constant with no upheaval which is detrimental to them and also gives the developer piece of mind of constant and long term rental income. The guidance the social care provider can give the landlord is invaluable as there are numerous health and safety factors to consider, plus all providers require different facilities in the end product. The provider can get exactly what they need for their tenants and the standards can be stipulated from the start to the landlord so they knows the end product will meet the providers criteria. As the end criteria is met the landlord can enjoy the rental income with no property management hassle, finding tenant issues, dealing with anti-social behaviour, void loss or rent arrears. This is a win-win situation for all - landlord, social care provider and tenant.
An example of the benefits that a provider can offer to a landlord are below and these specific benefits are from Action:
3 year lease
full tenant management service
rent paid monthly in advance
no void periods for the tenancy duration
responsive repairs and day to day maintenance
tenancy support
In 2019/20, the total expenditure on adult social care by local authorities was £23.3 billion (https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/). There is substantial demand for social care housing and this will rise as we see the fall out of Covid 19 in the UK and as the UK population gets older. As a business we are going to look at how we can help others who are in need of a safe and comfortable home, are you to change who you create homes for?
