“Home. It’s where my roots are. I feel rooted there. I feel comfortable there. I feel safe there. Being settled, there’s continuity there. It’s grounding for my kids as well. It’s a place they know, a safe base for them.
I would be very frightened if I didn’t have that safe base. I might be at sea. I’d be anxious and totally lost.
I’m a Housing Officer with South East Simon. I work with great people. A really good team. They never hesitate to go above and beyond for people.
I know all our tenants, and work with all of them around every aspect of their tenancy. I get to go with people moving out of homelessness. I get to go in, show them their new space, explain how everything is used, the house rules, the safety instructions, their responsibilities as tenants - everything!
It’s not always straightforward. We completed a move to a new tenancy with a woman a few weeks ago. She was just over the moon. So delighted. But I had another lad then who was quite overwhelmed and couldn’t get his head around it being his place.
Even things like having to buy food to put in his fridge – because he had one now, and having to pay the bills. It can sometimes be really overwhelming for people. Some would have no experience whatsoever of living on their own independently.
I spend time going through the basic day-to-day stuff like paying rent on time, setting up an electricity account, direct debits, household budgeting, health & safety, and all that. It’s absolutely huge, it can be such a challenge for people.
And it doesn’t always work out. I’m thinking of people who might have slept out for a number of months or years. Their friends kind of become their family. And then, when they move into their own place, you might have those friends turning up and then they lose control of their own front door. It can be overwhelming for them.
That’s where I have to be straight with people: ‘this is your home. We really want this tenancy to work’. We’d be very encouraging, very supportive and do what we can to help them regain control of their own place.
And we’d have people you’d think are doing really well and I’d have great hope for them. But there might be a situation, a memory, an anniversary or something and they’re almost right back where they started. We’d do everything we can to get them back on an even keel. There might be another start – or several other starts in some cases, in a different location.
People might be angry initially, but they really do appreciate a second chance. We all just want the tenancy to work, for the tenant to be truly settled - and stay settled for a long time. We don’t give up on them.”