Evictions down as AmicusHorizon bucks national trend

For immediate release
Press release
Evictions down as AmicusHorizon bucks national trend!
AmicusHorizon has secured around £2.5million extra income for its residents
in 18 months – and is bucking the national trend when it comes to rent arrear
evictions.
The housing association is helping residents source additional income and
easing the financial burden on hundreds of families across London and the
South East.
The organisation had 160 less court cases for rent arrears in the first six
months of 2014, compared to the same period in 2013. That’s resulted in a
saving of around £40,000 in court fees.
And evictions are on course to be lower than last year; the third year in a row
they’d have been reduced.
This completely goes against the latest government figures which revealed
the number of tenants being evicted from their homes is at a record high.
Mark Walker, Head of Income at AmicusHorizon, said: “Our Financial
Inclusion Team continues to work hard to maximise the benefits and income
our residents are entitled to. We’ve 580 less residents in arrears compared to
this time last year. We’re proactively helping residents and talking directly to
them about what we can do to help. It could be something simple like going
through their income and freeing up extra cash to pay their rent. Or it could be
working with a charity like StepChange to sort out their debts and help them
budget their money better.”
This year, AmicusHorizon’s hard work in helping residents with their finances
has been widely recognised.
The organisation’s Income and Financial Inclusion Teams have gained
Housing Quality Network's (HQN) accreditation for income management.
HQN aims to recognise and reward those organisations which maximises
their own income, as well as their own customers’ income. AmicusHorizon
was the first in the g15 – London’s 15 largest housing associations – to get
this accreditation.
And the housing provider was also recognised as a best practice organisation
for supporting residents through Welfare Reform by the Citizens Advice
Bureau. They praised AmicusHorizon’s work in helping people affected by
under occupation (bedroom tax) and the benefit cap.
Ends
For more information please contact Ross Lidbetter, Communications
Officer on 020 8726 8864 or email [email protected]
Notes to the Editor
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AmicusHorizon is one of the largest housing associations in South East
England, with 28,000 homes in Kent, Sussex and London.
This year is AmicusHorizon’s 50th anniversary. Family Housing
Association (Croydon) Limited was founded in 1964. This evolved into
South London Family HA which was the forerunner to AmicusHorizon.

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