Tackling the Poverty Premium in Social Housing

Many households in the UK are starting to feel the economic squeeze as job losses, pay freezes, soaring train fares, energy price wars, housing slumps and rising food prices take their toll in austerity Britain.  But what about the poorest of households, facing a poverty premium for the same basic essentials we all need? The Guardian recently called for housing providers to do more to help residents to manage their finances through education, as well as enabling access to cheaper products and services in order to prevent welfare reform measures from overwhelming poorer households.  The Big Lottery Fund's improving financial confidence initiative aims to do just this, targeting those identified as the most affected by financial exclusion; social housing tenants moving in and out of work and first time tenants or young people in social housing. The Big Lottery is investing £31.7m in 37 partnership projects across England to enable housing providers and voluntary sector organisations, local authorities and financial service providers, to prevent an estimated 150,000 of the most vulnerable social housing residents from falling into a spiral of debt.  Read more on the Guardian website.