By Davina Emery, Tenancy Sustainment Team Leader, Winchester City Council

Long gone are the days when local authorities visited properties, with regard to hoarding behaviours, in white biohazard suits with the intention of removing people’s possessions, often without permission.

But how did Winchester City Council (WCC) get to a place where we were able to rethink our approach to hoarding and introduce a new pilot scheme? Through the sheer hard work, commitment and drive to see better outcomes for our tenants and the determination of the housing staff, alongside the forward thinking of senior management.

We started to look at our inhouse hoarding policy and procedures when we were first hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, we liaised with specialist organisations around our approach, alongside opinions from those with lived experience.

Writing a procedure for a proposed new way of working and a trauma-informed approach to hoarding support for our tenants wasn’t difficult. There was an initial one-year trial so there was a lot of pressure around timescales but wanting it to work and being open to learning throughout the journey were key, as was feedback from those residents we were working with who advised us on their lived experience.

In the first year of trialling the pilot scheme, working with Respect My Stuff and Red Squirrell (specialist hoarding organisations with a 95% success rate) we supported 17 individual tenants.

Referrals for the scheme were sent from the WCC tenancy sustainment team from our housing tenancy team in addition to others being received externally and as self-referrals. A multi-agency approach was adopted with the tenant being central to the support offered.

Following the success of the pilot, we were able to:

  • Rewrite a business case for WCC to fund and adopt this approach moving forward
  • Embed it in the way we work
  • Support as many tenants as possible to get the needed assistance, sustain their tenancies and prevent evictions.

Building on this foundation work, in 2023 we delivered a dedicated in-person conference around hoarding to over 100 frontline housing practitioners, partner agencies and those with lived experience in Winchester.

Collectively, as a local authority, we have created a representative mission statement: Safe Homes, Inclusive Neighbourhoods, Environmentally Sustainable – ‘SHINES’. As a housing team, we are passionate about supporting our tenants to live well within the Winchester district, to support our tenants to maintain their tenancies and to direct those with vulnerabilities to the right support.

WCC are happy to share their best practice with anyone who would be keen to explore their approach further and possibly adopt a similar approach.

This year and beyond will see further opportunities to discuss learning to date, best practice and our trauma-informed approach. If you would like to find out more, please contact [email protected]