Somali Engagement Project
Tower Hamlets
Homes' Somali tenants are more likely to be in
financially vulnerable situations - in terms of high rent arrears and high receipt of benefits.
The community also experiences many issues which
place a significant strain on Somali households, such as
higher than average drug use amongst Somali men and a disproportionate number of
single-female headed households with children. There is a
genuine need to provide targeted housing support for these
residents in order to ensure that
services are accessible, inclusive and fair. We have learned to that the most
successful way to overcome these barriers is through working
closely with community partners and sharing learning across the
organisation.
In order to address the barriers and challenges
identified, we have
worked with two local community organisations, the Ocean Somali
Community Organisation (OSCA) and the Somali
Integration Team (SIT). In April
2011, we recruited a Somali Engagement Officer on secondment
for a twelve-week trial period from SIT. As a result of a
successful trial period,
the project has been extended until the end of the financial year
2011/2012 to strategically address
barriers to our services.
Progress so far
We have started to turn evidence into action
in order to make our services more accessible, inclusive and fair
for Somali
customers.
After
identifying that Somali tenants were twice as likely to be in
arrears as White British tenants, we worked with the Ocean
Somali Community Association to overcome literacy and language
barriers, resulting in a decrease of 30% (approx £12k) in
rent owed to us, reducing the
likelihood of eviction and restrictions on
bidding.
In addition, we have:
- improved the
provision of written Somali translations, from zero publications to
six;
- organised a Somali
women’s focus group in order to capture qualitative insight
relating to overcrowding and our services generally;
- developing a plan of actions which will assist THH in making
our services more accessible, inclusive and fair for Somali
customers;
- recruited a Somali
resident to the Diversity Working Group and Residents Panel;
- developed positive
relationships with Somali customers and community organisations,
for whom trust and confidence has been identified as a key barrier
to engagement and service provision;
- developed a Somali
talking leaflet on vulnerability.
Next steps
By April 2012, the following
outcomes will be
delivered upon the extension of the project within existing
budgets:
- Develop and publish the largest number of written Somali
translations compared to other social landlords with
significant Somali customer bases in the UK;
- Develop a suite of Somali talking leaflets in consultation with
Somali customers and partner organisations – as this has been
highlighted nationally as best practice;
- Deliver the Somali
Engagement Project Action Plan in partnership with LBTH and
community partners (produced as an outcome of focus group);
- Develop a range of business tools in order to support the
provision of services to Somali customers;
- Complete and public
a report titled, "Meeting the needs of
Somali residents" to share learning and best practice with other UK
social landlords;
- Ensure we know who
our Somali customers are - using name-based intelligence to
proactively contact those Somali tenants and leaseholders who we do
not currently have customer
profile data on and collecting it;
- Piloting the
provision of Somali-specific services, which has been strongly
requested by range of Somali community groups and
customers, in order to reduce
levels of arrears and provide support to households with the most
acute needs.
Key documents
Contact
James Caspell, Customer Insight
Officer (Diversity)
Telephone: 020 7364 6137
Email: james.caspell@towerhamletshomes.org.uk