CRNS supports   CRNS is supported by 
Suite 27 |
Furniture toolkit to help social housing providersFebruary 19, 2008
Around a quarter of homes in Scotland are owned and managed by Local Authorities or Housing Associations and many of their tenants move into their home with nothing. Without basic furnishings, most people in this situation will be unable to sustain their new tenancy and, in addition to having a negative impact on their tenants’ lives, failed tenancies have a financial cost to Local Authorities and Housing Associations. A study by North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish Council for the Single Homeless (SCSH) showed that a typical failed tenancy cost the Council £23,000. As a result, it makes financial sense for some social housing providers to help their tenants out with basic furniture for their home. The CRNS toolkit shows Local Authorities and Housing Associations how they can use local, community-based furniture projects to supply furniture packs to new tenants. Working this way can lower costs because furniture projects can include an element of reused furniture in their packs and a reduction in the cost of packs means that more people can be assisted. Working with furniture projects can also help Local Authorities and Housing Associations to create jobs and training places in their local area. In one pilot, outlined in the toolkit, three local furniture projects provided a furniture pack and storage service to North Lanarkshire Council, which created 12 jobs and 20 training places in the local area. In another example of good practice four Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in Grampian set up a partnership with a local furniture project to provide basic furniture packs to new tenants with no furniture. The partnership is project to help 150 new tenants this year. Furniture projects are not-for-profit organisations that provide affordable furniture to individuals and families who would not otherwise be able to furnish their homes. There are almost 60 projects in Scotland, providing furniture to over 100,000 people a year. The CRNS is a membership organisation for community based recycling and reuse organisations, including furniture projects. It receives funding from the Scottish Government to help Local Authorities and RSLs to work with furniture projects. |
A toolkit aimed at helping social housing providers to work with furniture reuse projects is being launched in Stirling on 20 February. The toolkit ‘Buying Packs from Furniture Projects’ has been developed by the Community Recycling Network for Scotland (CRNS).
