Expert helps East Midlands tenants to stay out of debt

A debt specialist with more than a decade’s experience is helping social housing tenants in the East Midlands balance their books.

Gary Greaves has been appointed financial inclusion officer at East Midlands Housing Association (EMHA), part of East Midlands Housing Group.

One of his priorities is working with tenants who cannot afford to pay their rent, as a result of redundancy for example, to help them stay in their home. The need for such expert support is highlighted by figures which show the region’s unemployment rate for those aged 16 plus rose from 5.9 to 7.3 per cent between May and July last year (source: Office for National Statistics).

Greaves will make home visits to check if tenants in difficulty are claiming all of the benefits which they are entitled to. According to the Department for Work and Pensions there was between £6.3 billion and £10.5 billion in unclaimed benefits in 2007-08.

An expert in the finance field, Greaves has worked for more than 13 years as a debt specialist for Citizens Advice Bureau and is a member of the Institute of Money Advice.

Since joining the social landlord, he has created an up to date directory of credit unions and advice agencies in the region and produced a series of customer information leaflets containing this information.

He is now working directly with tenants struggling financially to stay in their homes by sharing budgeting advice and money saving tips. His work is in keeping with EMHA’s recently published financial inclusion strategy, ‘Making Ends Meet’.

Greaves said: “If we can get to tenants in financial difficulties sooner rather than later then we stand a much greater change of resolving their problems and maintaining their tenancy. If a customer waits until they have hefty arrears before asking for help it may be that court action is taken against them and that can exacerbate their situation.”

Greaves, who represents the association on housing benefit liaison groups and financial inclusion forums across the region, is taking referrals from EMHA housing officers.

Pictured: Gary Greaves, EMHA financial inclusion officer.