“Every person referred to us has a different story and when they’re grateful for the support we’ve provided for them, it reminds us that what we do really does makes a difference to people’s lives.”
Which services do you provide?
We provide both housing management and housing and support. Primarily in Sutton it’s housing management – which is providing accommodation and supporting tenants with housing-related matters – while in Epsom we usually carry out housing and support services.
We support learning disability clients and those with mental health issues. We also provide some temporary accommodation for families and, in Sutton, for unaccompanied asylum seekers.
How do you help asylum seekers?
We work in partnership with the London Borough of Sutton, which provides us with referrals of unaccompanied asylum seekers. Sutton also work in partnership with the charity Barnardo’s to provide the support. We provide the housing management – which means we provide the properties for those clients and assist them with managing their licensing agreements. At the moment, we have eight units (three shared flats).
How many clients in total do you support?
We currently support around 108 clients.
How big is your team?
There are of six of us – a Housing & Support Manager, a Housing Officer, three Housing & Support Officers and one Evening Support Officer who does all our evening support at our learning disability shared house over in Epsom.
What makes your team unique?
I’d say the variety in our team makes it unique. We all have varied backgrounds; we have grown up in different circumstances with different life experiences which I think helps us do the job well as we bring unique strengths and abilities to supporting our clients. We’re trying to help people improve their life in general so sometimes I may not have had experience of whatever that person is going through but one of my colleagues might have.
Also, I think because we provide just the housing management in Sutton, including for unaccompanied asylum seekers, that also makes us a bit different to the other Transform teams.
What has been your biggest success in 50 years?
One that really stands out is when we opened our temporary accommodation property over in Sutton. That was our team’s first experience of supporting homeless families. Most of them come from emergency temporary accommodation – where you would imagine they would be living for just a few days, but often it can be as for as long as two years.
One example that really sticks in my mind was a single mother with two young boys who had been living in emergency temporary accommodation on an industrial estate. It was a long way away from her son’s school so she had to commute with her other little one there and back by bus twice a day.
They weren’t living in great conditions; the estate was loud at night and they were having to share laundry facilities. When she arrived at one of our flats, she instantly burst into tears and was so grateful. It was clean and warm; the kids would be able to sleep well at night and her son’s school was now very close.
“Every person referred to us has a different story and when they’re grateful for the support we’ve provided for them, it reminds us that what we do really does makes a difference to people’s lives.”
Which services do you provide?
We provide both housing management and housing and support. Primarily in Sutton it’s housing management – which is providing accommodation and supporting tenants with housing-related matters – while in Epsom we usually carry out housing and support services.
We support learning disability clients and those with mental health issues. We also provide some temporary accommodation for families and, in Sutton, for unaccompanied asylum seekers.
How do you help asylum seekers?
We work in partnership with the London Borough of Sutton, which provides us with referrals of unaccompanied asylum seekers. Sutton also work in partnership with the charity Barnardo’s to provide the support. We provide the housing management – which means we provide the properties for those clients and assist them with managing their licensing agreements. At the moment, we have eight units (three shared flats).
How many clients in total do you support?
We currently support around 108 clients.
How big is your team?
There are of six of us – a Housing & Support Manager, a Housing Officer, three Housing & Support Officers and one Evening Support Officer who does all our evening support at our learning disability shared house over in Epsom.
What makes your team unique?
I’d say the variety in our team makes it unique. We all have varied backgrounds; we have grown up in different circumstances with different life experiences which I think helps us do the job well as we bring unique strengths and abilities to supporting our clients. We’re trying to help people improve their life in general so sometimes I may not have had experience of whatever that person is going through but one of my colleagues might have.
Also, I think because we provide just the housing management in Sutton, including for unaccompanied asylum seekers, that also makes us a bit different to the other Transform teams.
What has been your biggest success in 50 years?
One that really stands out is when we opened our temporary accommodation property over in Sutton. That was our team’s first experience of supporting homeless families. Most of them come from emergency temporary accommodation – where you would imagine they would be living for just a few days, but often it can be as for as long as two years.
One example that really sticks in my mind was a single mother with two young boys who had been living in emergency temporary accommodation on an industrial estate. It was a long way away from her son’s school so she had to commute with her other little one there and back by bus twice a day.
They weren’t living in great conditions; the estate was loud at night and they were having to share laundry facilities. When she arrived at one of our flats, she instantly burst into tears and was so grateful. It was clean and warm; the kids would be able to sleep well at night and her son’s school was now very close.
Just seeing how much the accommodation that we provided for this mum meant to her and her children, was really poignant. She was with us for just over a year and has now got permanent accommodation with the local borough. We’ve seen her a few times and she’s always been very appreciative of what we were able to provide for her and her family.
