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WSHA secures £73k from the Scottish Government to Help Tenants

Posted on 5th May 2020

WSHA has received £73k from the Scottish Government Supporting Communities Fund to continue to deliver vital support services to our most vulnerable tenants. The funding will support us to expand the  delivery of a comprehensive package of support. This  includes food parcels, fuel and data top-ups, hot meals and wellbeing calls for tenants who are experiencing negative impacts as a result of the Coronavirus crisis.

WSHA staff have been working from home since 18th March to ensure that service delivery is maintained for tenants and customers. The housing association quickly recognised the impact that the Coronavirus would have on some of their most vulnerable tenants and expanded existing in-house services to cope with increased demand as well as developing new services such as a hot meal delivery to older tenants in sheltered housing and wellbeing calls.

Since 23rd March 2020 until Mid April 2020 the support delivered includes:

  • 1,101wellbeing telephone calls made to tenants over 65
  • 2,634 wellbeing telephone calls made to 211 sheltered housing tenants
  • In-house Welfare Rights Team has received 372 referrals or customer contact for support 
  • 359 hot cooked meals delivered to tenants in Sheltered Housing sites
  • 149 referrals have been received for assistance with food/shopping
  • 67 requests for fuel top ups

This support has been proved a lifeline for many such as Mary from Springburn, Glasgow who commented “I don’t hear from anyone else so I look forward to your call.” The provision of food parcels has been essential for some tenants with one tenant, Mark from Glasgow, highlighting, “Thank you so much, didn’t think I would be as happy to see a packet of pasta.”

Brian Gannon, Chief Executive of WSHA, commented: “This funding from the Scottish Government is crucial to allow us to expand delivery of key support to ensure we can help some of our most vulnerable tenants during this extremely stressful and challenging time. This is a worldwide health crisis that has had a severe detrimental impact on many of our tenants with regards to income, isolation, restrictions on social contact and even the ability to buy food. Our staff have been working tirelessly since March to ensure that we are here for our tenants when they need us the most.”

Tenants can find out more and find out how to access support on our dedicated webpage https://westscot.co.uk/tenants/coronavirus/