Alice and Hafod Coach James
Situation: Family with large rent arrears and discovering underlying health problems
Action: Alice and their family were served a notice seeking possession on rent grounds, and an injunction for property access to perform planned works, due to non-engagement.
After numerous attempts at contact, Coach James managed to have a productive chat with the family. They disclosed they were struggling with grief after a bereavement and had begun using alcohol to cope with this - they felt ashamed to let anyone into the property due to its condition.
James offered advice on relevant services available to help the tenants with their mental health, alcohol misuse and their financial wellbeing. The family has been allocated a mental health support worker and are working with the local authority’s financial inclusion team. They have also been supported to contact their GP to receive counselling and support on alcohol misuse.
Outcome: The family is engaging well now; they are making small steps to improve their situation including reducing their rent arrears and improving their property’s condition as James continues to stay in contact to coach the family. This has prevented any legal action from Hafod being required and may also have prevented a future medical crisis as health services were not aware of the issues to the family’s previous non-engagement.