Unlocking tenant financial resilience

Building partnerships between housing associations and community finance providers

Under additional financial pressure from the pandemic, too many social housing tenants lack the financial resilience needed to weather everyday financial shocks. Many are forced to turn to high-cost credit or even illegal moneylending as a result.

Improving access to fair and affordable credit can help tenants break the spiral of unaffordable debt, rent arrears and eviction.

As well as transforming the lives of tenants, this can have profound financial benefits for landlords. And it supports community finance lenders to scale up and reach more customers.

Our Unlocking tenant financial resilience report aims to help housing associations and community finance providers take advantage of the clear opportunity to increase the scale of their collaboration and support the financial wellbeing of their tenants and customers.

Based on new research with tenants, housing associations and community finance providers, the report sets out

• The case for partnerships demonstrating the benefits for tenants, housing associations and community finance providers
• Guidance to help organisations in building successful partnerships including different partnership models, case studies and good practice

We hope organisations will find this report useful in setting up their own partnerships, drawing on the guidance, case studies and examples of good practice.