Poverty leaves many people living in social housing little means of buying decent, essential furnishings for their home. Across the UK, less than 2% of social housing stock is furnished despite furnished tenancies topping tenants' priorities for social landlords to tackle their financial exclusion.
Historically across the sector, all furnishings, flooring and window coverings are removed from a property regardless of quality when a customer moves out and the property becomes void.
To read more about Furniture Poverty, visit www.endfurniturepoverty.org
Carpets and Curtains
In January 2017, we ran a pilot project in Stratford-upon-Avon, which tested the process and impact of leaving good quality floor and window coverings in our properties. This included carpets, laminate and tiled floors, blinds and curtains.
Over the course of the 12 month pilot, around 50 customers benefitted from gifted items, with the median replacement value in the region of £50. There are clear cost and time savings from a reduced workload on the Property Services team, no negative impact on void turnaround times and a reduction in landfill waste.
Feedback from customers has been incredibly positive - read Danielle's case study below.