Stonewater Supports Over 150 Overcrowded Households
Stonewater has exceeded its rehousing target as part of its overall plan to help tackle the industry-wide issue of overcrowded households.
By introducing a raft of proactive measures, including the creation of a dedicated Overcrowding Task Group, moving customers and providing extensions or storage solutions, Stonewater have improved the lives of over 170 families.
Over the last 12 months, 141 overcrowded households were moved to larger homes and 20 customers were provided with storage solutions. An additional 11 moves or extensions are currently in the process of being progressed.
According to the National Housing Federation’s Overcrowding in England report, which highlighted the current scale of overcrowding in England, one in six children are living in overcrowded conditions. Another key report finding includes the fact that over half of respondents have had to sleep somewhere other than their bedroom.
Dave Lockerman, Director of Housing Operations at Stonewater, said: “We appreciate overcrowding is an industry-wide issue that cannot be solved overnight. However, we’re committed to making sure we do all we can to help tackle the issue and work closely with customers to provide them with a practical solution that works for them.
“We’re pleased to say we exceeded our target of rehousing 100 overcrowded households during 2023/2024.
“However, we recognise that we are only at the start of this journey and are therefore working hard organisation-wide to continue the momentum into 2024/25 and beyond.”
Downsizing could be an alternative solution to overcrowding
Stonewater also sees downsizing as a solution to helping resolve overcrowding-related issues. A total of ten customers were downsized via direct re-lets and 59 customers downsized through mutual exchanges during 2023/24.
Over the next 12 months, Stonewater aims to directly approach customers wishing to downsize, to see whether we can facilitate mutual exchanges with customers needing bigger homes.
If the number of people within the property exceeds the number of people it has been designed for, or the gender/age of the children means it is not possible for them to share a bedroom, then the property is classed as being overcrowded by Stonewater.
For 2024/25, Stonewater aims to resolve 100 more overcrowding situations by directly letting larger properties to customers; arranging mutual exchanges; working with the local authority or, in extreme circumstances, building extensions and purchasing alternative properties
