Assisting tenants to downsize their home: Reigate and Banstead Borough Council

What went in:

Priority area addressed

Best use of housing stock: The scheme enables the Council to assist under occupying social tenants to downsize into smaller, right sized, more affordable social rented homes.

Budget

• Staffing, 0.5 FTE ‘Underoccupancy Transfer Officer for 12 months: £18,000.
• Incentive payments: £19,000.
• Removals, packing, declutter and waste disposal: £17,000.
• Handy person offer: £2,000.
• The total 12 month spend was £56,000 which is a small underspend against the original budget of £68,000.
• Some funding was sourced elsewhere, this totals £15,000 from Housing Benefit Discretionary Housing Payments, Homelessness Prevention Grant and Mayors Trust fund. These met other costs that include rent arrears, dual rent payments and a carpet.

Timeframe to completion

Twelve month pilot program.

What came out:

Fourteen households were successfully downsized, these family homes were vacated and made available for homeless households.

In December 2022 the Executive Committee agreed to ringfence £68,000 from the Homeless Prevention Grant to proceed with a 12-month pilot social housing downsizing scheme. 

The scheme enables the council to assist under occupying social tenants to downsize into smaller, right sized, more affordable social rented homes.

A shortage of family sized social housing is creating a costly back log in emergency and temporary accommodation, hampering the council in discharging its homeless duties and leading to longer times for applicants on the housing register.

The resultant vacated family homes are ringfenced for homeless households, releasing temporary accommodation and allowing movement out of expensive nightly paid emergency accommodation.

The pilot employed a 0.5 FTE staff member, and the aim was to downsize 10 households freeing up 10 under occupied family social rented homes. The pilot started on 1 November 2023.

Fourteen households were successfully downsized during the twelve-month pilot.

Fourteen family homes were vacated and made available for homeless households, the breakdown of properties included: six three-bed houses (four of which had dining rooms so could be used as five beds), three two-bed houses and five two-bed flats.

Fourteen households in expensive nightly paid emergency accommodation were able to move into the temporary accommodation vacated by the families that moved into the voids created by the downsizers.

At the end of the pilot, we had also amassed a rich data set of 83 households that are registered on the scheme and ready to downsize when an appropriate smaller property becomes available. The number of households signed up to downsize continues to increase monthly.

The data now held identifying types of homes required for downsizers and areas requested, can be shared with Registered Providers to inform new developments. Raven Housing Trust (our local LSVT RP) has shown interest in our scheme, and we are planning further joint working to enhance the offer and continued success.

Referrals for the scheme came from multiple organisations including but not limited to, Age Concern, Raven, RBBC’s Housing and Customer Contact Teams, other RP’s, SCC’s Occupational Therapist Team and self-referrals. Our officer presented the scheme at stakeholder meetings to spread the word.

The offer to tenants

The offer to tenants includes, a packing and removals service which includes disposal of unwanted items, furniture disassembly and reassembly (if necessary and to facilitate the move this will be gifted). During our research this was identified as a ‘move blocker’. It has been essential in the appeal of the scheme to downsizing tenants, many have lived in their properties for decades and either don’t have the ability to pack, clear and dispose of their belongings or are overwhelmed by it. Twelve of the 14 downsizers used this service.

Access to a handy person service for tasks such as putting up shelves or connecting appliances was also identified as a ‘move blocker’. This service is offered up to a limit of five hours per household. Eight of the 14 downsizers used this service.

A one off ‘home set up payment’ is also provided, £1,000 is offered per bedroom released (for example moving from a three-bed to one bed attracts a £2,000 payment). Following research, it was clear that the costs in setting up a new home was a barrier to moving for many, these costs include carpets and curtains. This payment eases the burden on low-income households and helps encourage the move. All 14 downsizers received this payment.

The support of a dedicated personal assistant (Under Occupancy Transfer Officer) has been essential. They are responsible for ensuring that the move goes smoothly for residents. They liaise with removers, set up utilities, assist with clearance and arranging benefit claims. This aspect of the scheme is key to its success. All downsizers benefited from this offer.

The scheme has been extended due to its success and is expected to deliver more than 15 family homes for homeless households in the next 12 months. 

The scheme will continue to be funded from the Homeless Prevention Grant.

During the next 12 months, discussions will be held with Registered Providers to involve them more and to try and access some of their resources to widen the scheme out. Our aim is to make better use of social housing stock across the borough.

The largest obstacle to moving for most downsizers is the lack of available, suitable social rented homes for downsizers to move to. The need for attractive options for downsizers will be fed into Council’s development strategy plans and discussed with other Registered Providers so they can consider this in future development delivery plans.

• The support of an Under Occupancy Transfer Officer was essential to ensure it went smoothly for households that were moving.
• There needs to be attractive options for downsizers.

Specific examples

March 2025 update

We now have over 100 households on our downsizers list, this is great data to inform new developments, to provide a one-bed to free up a three-bed makes complete sense and is a ‘win win’ situation.

Current challenges and blockers include the lack of vacant social homes. In most cases, downsizers will only move into social rented rather than affordable rented. Most downsizers have lived in their underoccupied social rented home for decades and do not want to pay a higher affordable rent in a one-bed property than they are paying in their social rented three-bed (as an example). 

Since the 1 November 2024 (start of year two) our part time officer has already downsized six households so we expect to smash the 15 moves target for year two.