Tackling Housing Debt & Eviction - Enhancing Occupier Engagement Through Improved Communication and Advice
Financial Fairness Trust & the University of Southampton
Introduction
Every year tens of thousands of households face the threat of losing their home due to rent or mortgage arrears. The impact
this can have on the health and wellbeing of those involved, particularly children, can be significant (Nettleton and Burrows
2001; MIND 2011) not least for the reason that ‘home’ is often associated with security, safety, community and wellbeing (Fox O’Mahony 2007). Despite this, little is known about the experience of occupiers of the arrears process. What we do know is that a significant number of them do not participate in the arrears and possession process or do so only when it is too late to save their home (see, for example, Bright and Whitehouse 2014; Brookes and Hunter 2016; Whitehouse, Bright and Dhami 2019).
In an effort to understand the reasons for this, this project sought to capture the views and experiences of those with lived experience of housing debt and the threat of home loss. Based on these views, this project offers evidence-based proposals designed to improve engagement in the arrears and possessions process. Given the heightening of the pre-existing ‘landscape of precariousness’ (Forrest 1999) by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cost of living crisis, an exploration of ways to improve engagement and reduce evictions seems both important and timely.
About the Project
In addressing the key question of how the level of occupier engagement with arrears and eviction processes can be improved, this research explores the following issues:
The factors that put occupiers at risk of housing debt
Occupier experience of housing debt
Occupier engagement with arrears and eviction processes, including:
reasons for non-engagement
connections between early engagement and eviction
information deficits in the arrears and eviction process.
Methodology
Adopting a mixed methods approach, the research team collected both qualitative and quantitative data relating to the issue of housing debt and home loss. This included:-
An online survey distributed nationally that ran from March – October 2023. We received 104 responses.
A hard copy survey distributed to venues such as libraries, courts, and advice agencies to encourage responses from those unable to use or access a digital device. We received 35 responses.
Interviews were conducted between April and November 2023 with housing providers, advice service providers, and occupiers with experience of housing debt. A total of 33 interviews were conducted with housing and advice service providers and 20 with occupiers (17 tenants and three mortgage borrowers).
While the online survey was distributed nationally, we focused our efforts in three case study areas: Southampton, Birmingham, and Glasgow.
We did not receive any responses from those located in Wales or Northern Ireland and so our focus rests on England and Scotland.
By combining the collection and analysis of this unique data with existing datasets and research, this project aims to contribute to an improved understanding of how occupiers experience the arrears and possession process.
Overview
The loss of a home through eviction, and subsequent consequences, can be financially and emotionally devastating. The cost-of-living crisis has placed new financial pressures on low-income households. This research identifies ways to avoid eviction proceedings through measures that improve meaningful communication between those in housing debt, housing providers, and advice services.
Key findings
Based on 139 survey responses and 53 interviews with occupiers, debt advisers, legal practitioners, and housing providers, we found:-
Barriers to seeking advice and support in resolving housing debt
A majority of respondents (56%) did not or were unable to access debt advice from a range of providers including charities, local councils and online providers.
Respondents were deterred from accessing support by the lack of opportunity for face-to-face discussion of their issues, the difficulty of getting through on the telephone, and their awareness that advice services are overwhelmed.
They also felt frustrated that system solutions to complex problems, notably payment plans, do not help to resolve underlying causes of debt (for example, insufficient income to meet bills).
Local authority housing officers reported that changes to working practices, accelerated during COVID, have led to a depersonalised approach to resolving arrears, with fewer frontline staff and more reliance on remote engagement practices.
These changes have undermined their relationship with tenants and the level of trust and confidence that tenants have in them as sources of help and advice.
Engagement with the Legal Process
Court observations by the research team indicated that where advice and representation were provided, this tended to result in better outcomes for occupiers.
Occupiers in England at threat of losing their home have a right to free legal advice and representation on the day of their hearing in most County Courts. This is not the case in Scotland where access to free emergency legal advice is available in only a limited number of sheriff courts.
Asked whether they would attend any future court hearing, nearly two thirds of respondents said they would not, some indicating that they would find attending court ‘too stressful’. This finding is of concern given the apparent association between attendance at court and avoidance of an outright possession order.
Mental Health Issues
A significant number of our respondents reported that health issues, particularly mental health issues, were a contributory factor in the accumulation of debt.
Around half of respondents (53 of 99) reported a health condition or disability and of those, 8 in 10 reported having a mental health issue (conditions most mentioned were anxiety and depression).
Respondents reported being worn down by the effort of trying to access help and effectively giving up, sometimes for the sake of their health
Broader factors contributing to arrears included:
Service charges
Service charges, particularly communal heating costs, impacted adversely on the ability of social tenants to afford their rent. These costs were due to factors beyond their control and welfare benefits are simply not capable of covering those costs.
“You’ve got people paying £160 a month on council-controlled heating bills so they can’t even opt out of it. They can’t even turn their heating off and put a jumper on, they have to pay it.”
(Housing Officer)The inclusion of communal heating charges in the tenant’s ‘rent’ means that a failure to pay the charge can lead to a possession claim. This seems to introduce eviction for non-payment of utility bills ‘through the backdoor’.
The Universal Credit System and Arrears
The Universal Credit system emerged as a contributor to housing debt and a barrier to its effective resolution.
The direct payment of the housing element to tenants, the wait for the first payment, advance payments, and sanctions and deductions, were signalled as major causes of sometimes inescapable debt.
There was some indication that those in debt may not be aware of sources of additional financial support such as Discretionary Housing Payments