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Bad Weather, Good Habits: encouraging social housing tenants to save more

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Bad Weather, Good Habits: encouraging social housing tenants to save more Presented by Lemos&Crane and supported by Friends Provident Foundation – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Bad Weather, Good Habits: encouraging social housing tenants to save more


1
Bad Weather, Good Habitsencouraging social
housing tenants to save more
  • Presented by LemosCrane and supported by Friends
    Provident Foundation

2
Methodology
  • LemosCrane worked with 6 social landlords
  • The Wrekin Housing Trust
  • CHS
  • Hyde group
  • Hastoe Housing Association
  • Circle Housing Group
  • Aster Group
  • In-depth interviews with 220 social housing
    tenants.

3
Background and Policy Context
  • Why savings?
  • Why social landlords?
  • - Business case
  • - Financial inclusion and capability
  • - Moral case
  • Policy Context
  • More assertive policy agenda
  • Welfare reform and Universal Credit
  • Strivers and Skivers
  • NEST Defaults, loss aversion and Nudging
  • If tenants had savings and were better placed to
    deal with emergencies, ultimately we would have
    less rent arrears.

4
Tenants Lives
  • 45 experiencing a challenging situation making
    them socially or financially vulnerable
  • Of these, 66 were living with physical ill
    health or disability
  • 80 between 18-65
  • 37 single person households
  • 43 had children, and roughly half and half
    single parent and two parent households
  • average income 18,171

5
Benefit Status and AttitudesTowards Money
  • No significant correlation between benefit income
    and attitude towards money

Fully dependent
Receiving some
Not receiving any
6
Hobbies and Interests
  • The majority prioritise low cost, high
    contentment activities
  • 2 listed shopping as among their hobbies
  • 0.5 listed spending money

7
Characters, Lifestyles and Perfect Days
day at the seaside
Ill help anybody
Trip to the park with family
Go to a botanic garden read a book and stroll
Relax. Me time
Gardening
Peaceful, surrounded by loved ones
Realizing nirvana
I would describe myself as more of an introvert.
8
Major Life Events
  • 88 had experienced at least one major life
    event during their tenancy, including
  • Health problems
  • Having a baby
  • Entering employment
  • Redundancy
  • Divorce
  • Retirement.

9
Tenants Worries
Do you have any persistent worries?
  • 66 of respondents
  • said that they had persistent
  • day-to-day worries
  • Money was the most common
  • worry amounting to 63 overall
  • (33 including those without worries)
  • 89 of those with persistent
  • money worries were not
  • regularly saving

10
Experiences and Attitudes towards Money
  • 67 are mostly getting by with at least a small
    amount left over each month
  • 55 of respondents were careful savers

11
Borrowing
  • 61 of borrowers were up to
  • date and coping with repayments
  • 62 of respondents said they did not borrow

12
Future Planning
  • 62 said they were in work but not planning for
    retirement
  • 56 did not know how they would cope with an
    unexpected expenditure

13
Saving Behaviour
Are you saving regularly?
  • 24 were saving regularly
  • 33 held some savings
  • The majority of savers held up to
  • 1,000
  • 73 felt they should save more

I would like to save because I would like to
have a money cushion to rely on when its
needed. I have nothing to fall back on if a
disaster was to happen.
14
Savings Targets
  • Those not regularly saving were just as likely to
    have clear ideas of what they wanted to save for
    as those who were saving.
  • I would like to save because I would like to
    have a money cushion to rely on when its
    needed.
  • A holiday would be lovely!

15
Why are tenants not saving?
  • The overwhelming majority say they would like to
    save but cannot afford to do so (95)
  • We dont have enough money to be able to save.
  • cant afford to!
  • I would like to save eventually but I dont
  • have any money now

Do you think you should save more?
16
Could tenants save more?
  • 67 are managing their money with at least a
    small amount left over.
  • Financial impact of having children includes
    having to buy treats etc for kids to take to
    school for the class so children feel accepted.
  • I am sensible but extravagant with my
    grandchildren.
  • We struggle but we do go away once a year.
  • Why not saving? Income is too low if we are to
    have a holiday.

17
How can landlords help?
  • 39 said they would welcome their landlords help
    in opening a savings account
  • 47 said they would welcome their landlords help
    in joining a Christmas club.
  • More information to tenants on ways to save.
  • Good to have financial advisers - more support
    and advice especially for people
  • in debt/rent arrears.
  • Help filling in key forms relating to money and
    saving.

18
Conclusions
  • Stereotypes of social housing residents
  • Tenants experiences of and attitude towards
    money
  • Social norm of lifestyle-related expenditure
  • Segmentation and landlord involvement

19
Tenants more radical suggestions
  • Maybe if we paid a little bit more on our direct
    debit rental payments that could be saved on our
    behalf.
  • I could pay a couple of pounds more when I pay
    my rent that would be put into a savings account.
    This would build up over time and I would not
    miss it. A small amount would be money that I
    would not miss!
  • I pay a little bit more on my rent account and
    this puts me in credit. Even a little bit would
    be useful.

20
Rent Plus
  • Tenants open a savings account, perhaps a cash
    ISA, with a supplier identified by the landlord
  • Tenants make a budget of reasonable expenditure
    and identify any surplus cash regularly available
    for saving, whether large or small
  • Tenants opt in preferably at sign up (though it
    would be open to all tenants) to overpaying their
    rent by a set monthly amount
  • The money they overpay remains the tenants and
    cannot be used by the landlord to clear rent
    arrears
  • The excess on the rent charge is periodically and
    automatically swept into a savings account
  • Landlords can then top up the savings accounts
    with cash, prize draws and other incentives.
  • Tenants can also top up the savings account if
    they have surplus cash over and above the regular
    amount saved
  • Withdrawals from the account would be through the
    financial services provider in the normal way.

21
  • Full report available as a PDF from
    www.LemosCrane.co.uk
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