SW9 Community Housing shortlisted for income management award!

Our subsidiary SW9 Community Housing has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Outstanding Approach to Income Management category at the prestigious UK Housing Awards 2016!

The Outstanding Approach to Income Management Award rewards success in maintaining high levels of income, while making sure that more tenants can sustain their tenancies and avoid financial difficulties.

The Revenue Collections Team have had one of the highest collection rates in London for two years running and passed their target for 2015-2016 in the first eight months of the financial year. As of September 2015, arrears were at a very low 1.83% and the team has maintained a high collection rate of 104.28%.

The team has achieved this through intensive work with those in low-level arrears, targeted support, cross departmental working and the development of strong community partnerships.

Ade Akitoye, Revenue Collections Team Leader at SW9 Community Housing, said: “Despite popular belief, rent teams don’t want to evict people. There were only two evictions at SW9 Community Housing last year due to rent arrears and so far this year we’ve not had any.”

The main challenge facing the team was making sure residents engage so they can be made aware of the impact of welfare reform. The team used a multi channel approach and linked with Network Homes’ ‘nudge project’. This meant for every contact made, Capita, a partnership organisation, would follow up to make sure the message was received and understood.

Ade said: “We pride ourselves on making the effort to understand our residents’ needs and then getting them to where they need to be. Performing strongly in financial terms is key to attracting potential partners, funding and investment. This in turn will mean our team can continue to support our residents.”

The judging will be carried out by senior-level industry experts and SW9 will be giving a judging interview to summarise why they should win the award. The Awards will be decided on 26 April at the UK Housing Award ceremony which will be hosted by comedian Rory Bremner.