Category: Homelessness

Our housing team helped St Basils speed progress and create a new centre of 32 homes in Coventry.

The housing team at Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) work on many property deals that help housing associations provide homes to people in need. But occasionally a piece of work comes in with an even greater degree of social purpose that emphasises the impact of the team’s work.

St Basils is a charity working with young people in the West Midlands to help them find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, and increase their opportunities.

At the end of 2019, the charity instructed us to negotiate the purchase of a former housing association sheltered accommodation building in Coventry. Their goal was to turn the empty building into 32 one-bedroom flats for young people. We successfully exchanged and completed the purchase in time to allow the refurbishment works to be completed and Lorna Esien Court to be opened in time for Christmas 2020.

Building homes and boosting confidence

As well as working on the property transaction, ACS also acted on the Heart of England Community Foundation grant that funded the purchase as part of their Building Better Lives programme.

Although well-known in Birmingham, this building will give St Basils a bigger presence in Coventry and help extend the work they do with vulnerable young people. As well as providing 32 new homes, this centre will provide the residents with training and employment programmes to build their confidence.

Welcoming new residents

Completion couldn’t have come at a better time according to St Basils chief executive, Jean Templeton;

“With the ongoing pandemic and increase in unemployment rates for those under 25, young people need our support now more than ever. We are so thankful for the funding that has enabled this project to happen and look forward to welcoming our new residents to high-quality, safe and secure accommodation.”

Jean Templeton, chief executive at St Basils

For Karen Wells and Laura Moore, the ACS property lawyers who worked on the transaction, the significance of helping with a project like this really added to what was a fairly straightforward property deal. As Karen says;

“We negotiate many purchase contracts, but this one really struck a chord. The idea that we were doing something to help young people – even though we were just one small piece of the jigsaw – made it feel very real. That these young people will now have their own space with their own front door was very powerful.”

Karen Wells, senior associate at ACS

Valley House asked us to help negotiate funding that allowed them to buy and develop more properties.

Valley House, in Coventry, provide safe accommodation for vulnerable people – including families escaping domestic abuse and young parents who are unable to live independently.

With suitable housing for these groups in short supply, Valley House wanted to take more control by buying instead of leasing. To fund the purchases, they approached Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) for a loan and asked Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) to guide them through the legal aspects.

A perfect match

Traditionally, Valley House has been funded largely by grants. Borrowing money was something new, with a degree of risk involved. However, they were in good hands. Social and Sustainable Capital is an organisation that lends solely to projects with social impact and Valley House is exactly the sort of project they look to fund. Even so, SASC investors expect a return as they are often philanthropic organisations who want to grow their investment to fund more projects in the future.

CEO, LJ Winterburn, describes what Valley House were looking for from ACS;

“Taking on the SASC loan was a very big step for us. We wanted to be confident in the advice and support we would be getting – that the solicitors we used understood the enormity of what we were doing. We have used ACS in the past and know that they ‘get us’ so they were the natural choice.”

LJ Winterburn, CEO of Valley House

More financially sustainable

ACS made sure that both parties were happy with the arrangement and that Valley House understood the ramifications of the loan. As a result, Valley House have been able to buy 13 properties with plans to buy nine more – which will provide homes for 28 people. The funding also makes the charity more financially sustainable in the long-term as it will own the properties and no longer be so reliant on the private rented sector. Jon Coane, partner at ACS, says the work was about more than understanding the finer points of law;

“Contracts are often drafted by lawyers who don’t necessarily understand the business of the borrower and what they’re trying to do. If I can help charities get funding in a way which doesn’t trip them up, that enables them to do more and grow their charity, that means a lot to me.”

Jon Coane, partner at ACS

Our pro bono advice helped West Midlands Homelessness Taskforce reduce evictions and offer more stability.

Shelter estimate that over 320,000 people were homeless in the UK in 2019 – that’s one in every 200 people. Homelessness takes many forms – rough sleeping, sofa surfing, night-shelters, B&B, temporary accommodation, hostels, squatting, and is a complex mix of personal and wider structural factors, such as health, employment, relationships and housing.

As part of our social purpose volunteering programme, several of our team volunteered to work pro bono for the West Midlands Combined Authority Homelessness Taskforce and provide legal advice on tackling the problem.

The tip of the iceberg

Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) volunteer, Emma Hardman, works in housing as part of her ‘day job’ and was delighted to bring that expertise to bear;

“Street homelessness is just the tip of the iceberg: the small visible part. So, this is a project I am really passionate about being part of and pushing forward.”

Emma Hardman, senior associate at ACS

There are many reasons why someone can be homeless, including that they’ve failed to keep up with rent and have been evicted. Poor personal finance management can often be the cause. So the taskforce’s immediate goal was to help families manage rent payments better.

Eviction is in no one’s interest

Temporary relocation for a family is highly stressful, particularly for children. The quality of temporary accommodation is often poor and there can be issues for schooling if temporary accommodation is not close to the original home.

“Homelessness is the ultimate exclusion. Without a safe, secure and affordable home no one can achieve their full potential.”

Jean Templeton, chair of WMCA Homelessness Taskforce

Temporary accommodation is also expensive for local authorities to fund, and it can often take a long time to find suitable permanent accommodation.

Private registered providers view eviction for arrears as the final resort too because of their social purpose and void properties cost them money while they wait for the property to be relet.

A new form of tenancy agreement

We suggested a tenancy ‘downgrade’, where tenants are issued with a new form of tenancy agreement: this is done with complete transparency with the individual and it is their choice. If they breach the terms of the new agreement, it would be easier for the landlord to regain possession of the property.

Sitting alongside this would be an increased package of support for tenants to encourage a habit of full rent payments and trigger a change of behaviour in tenants.

Black Country Housing Group has already run an extremely successful pilot of the tenancy downgrade solution and it works for all parties. The aim is now to roll it out more widely across the West Midlands region.

It’s too early to say, but the Covid-19 crisis may have accelerated this change. The Government pushed to get ‘everyone in’ as part of keeping people safe – and evictions were suspended for a period. Hopefully, as we move on from the pandemic, a change of attitude and policy may help to avoid renewed growth in homelessness.

“The collaboration of Anthony Collins Solicitors through ACS’ pro bono work is helping us to challenge the status quo and find new ways of making our systems work better for people – and in particular to find ways of minimising the impacts for children.”

Jean Templeton, chair of WMCA Homelessness Taskforce