Homelessness prevention by East Ayrshire Council

Neighbourhood coaches - not housing officers

The context

It’s not easy to measure tenancy sustainment. No single national statistic, for example, rate of eviction or abandonment, or proportion of tenants sustaining a tenancy at 12 months, tells ‘the whole story’. Tenants can terminate tenancies for positive reasons, whilst others may remain in homes that aren’t right for them as they’re unable to secure a move. Despite the difficulties of accurately defining and measuring sustainment, in 2017, East Ayrshire Council recognised it faced real challenges in this area. The Council looked outwards, exploring UK and international approaches which have had a positive impact on tenancy sustainment, understood in its widest sense. This exercise inspired them to pilot a new approach to housing management: neighbourhood coaching.

The intervention

A coaching approach turns the traditional landlord-tenant dynamic on its head. It conceives of residents/tenants as people with whom to build trusting relationships, as opposed to passive recipients of Council services. The rationale is that positive relationships have the largest impact on good outcomes. Coaches focus on people’s strengths, goals and interests rather than defining them by their problems, issues and needs. Getting to know households as well as the community - its assets, activities and places of interest - are key tasks for neighbourhood coaches. They are also community connectors, connecting people to each other, as well as to local resources.

East Ayrshire undertook a neighbourhood coaching pilot in Doon Valley in 2018, with feedback from staff and tenants used to inform an immersive coaching programme across the workforce in 2019/20. The programme is designed to support employees to coach others to achieve their potential. It includes sections on self-awareness and insight, having good conversations, the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), coaching in conflict situations, acting as a catalyst to motivate others and the impact of loneliness and social isolation. The training has different ‘tiers’, from in-depth programmes for frontline staff, to introductory sessions for elected members. Following a successful pilot, neighbourhood coaching was rolled out to all neighbourhood housing teams in 2019.

Neighbourhood coaches blend traditional landlord roles with interpersonal skills, using coaching where someone is facing barriers to achieving things in their life. A coach might speak to tenants about rent issues, but also facilitate access to learning or work opportunities. They might give advice to someone about a housing application, but also link them into local activities to build skills and confidence. They are the key contact, with a local presence, which means a smaller patch size (around 250-300 homes). In 2017, the Council also introduced ‘tenancy start matrices’, which identify areas where new tenants may need more support, and six, nine and 12-month ‘tenancy health checks’ for all for new tenancies.

The outcome

In 2016-17, before adopting neighbourhood coaching, the Council carried out 80 evictions. Sustainment at one year for tenants overall was 79%; 65% for previously homeless tenants. By 2019-20, the Council had cut its eviction rate in half (40). Sustainment rose to 82% for all tenants, and by 10% - to 75% - for formerly homeless tenants (statistics reflect the pre-pandemic year, for comparator purposes).

As above, statistics do not give a full or final account of what sustainment really means, and causality can be hard to show. However, the Council is in no doubt that its proactive, holistic coaching approach has increased engagement and improved relationships with tenants. This ultimately impacts positively not only on housing sustainment, but also on tenant outcomes in the broadest sense.

Key insights

a coaching approach can make a positive difference for frontline staff as well as tenants; coaches see more of the outcomes people achieve, and receive greater feedback on their own impact
having time to spend - to get to know tenants and their local communities well - is one of the greatest benefits of a coaching approach for staff, made possible by smaller patch sizes
whilst smaller patches require more staff, the person-centred, holistic way of working has led to a reduction in enquiries and demand on services, thereby improving efficiency

Find out more…

Helen Merriman, Housing Services Manager, East Ayrshire Council
helen.merriman@east-ayrshire.gov.uk