Residents invited to Home Swap Event

News from our partners

Four Housing providers in Shropshire; Severnside Housing, South Shropshire Housing Association, Meres & Mosses Housing Association and Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing are joining forces to hold a series of Home Swap Events to provide information and advice to their residents.

The first Home Swap Event will take place on Thursday 30th January 2014 at Shrewsbury Baptist Church, Central, Claremont Street, Shrewsbury from 2pm onwards.

With the introduction of the Bedroom Tax, it’s more important than ever that residents live in a home that’s the right size for their needs; one that’s not over-crowded or where they are being financially penalised for empty bedrooms.

At the drop-in advice day residents will be able to meet other social housing tenants who are looking to exchange and access HomeSwapper; a database of people looking to swap their property, both locally and nationally.  They will also be able get help from Severn Trent on reducing their water bills and meet representatives from the Big Energy Saving network who will be offeringadvice on energy efficiency and savings.

All four housing providers offer their residents differing incentives to downsize.  These range from cash incentives, assistance with removal and redecoration costs, replacement carpets and curtains and other related costs such as gas cooker reconnections, mail redirection, etc.

Verity Sheppard, Decant Officer at Severnside Housing, said:

“This is a great opportunity for anyone considering moving, due to the bedroom tax or other circumstances, to come along and see what homes are available for swap.  Partnership working enables us to offer our residents greater choice, whether they want to downsize or need a larger home.  It’s also a great opportunity for us to offer residents money saving advice and tips.”

Helen Corfield, Neighbourhood Services Manager at Shropshire Housing Group (including Meres & Mosses Housing Association and South Shropshire Housing Association) added:

 “Shropshire Housing Group is looking forward to working with Severnside Housing, and Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing in the joint venture mutual exchange event.  We hope that we will be able to pool our resources and give the tenants affected, either by under occupancy or living in over-crowded accommodation, a greater choice in the areas and properties they can move to.”

Chris Shepherd, Neighbourhood Manager at Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing also added:

 “We are excited to be working with Severnside and Shropshire Housing Group on some upcoming home swap events. By working in partnership, we are able to offer a much wider variety of homes to tenants who want to swap homes. There will also be information for tenants about managing their tenancy and saving money on household expenses. We support these events as they will help social housing tenants in Shropshire with the challenges that they are faced with.”