Case Study – Pam

Pam attended our drop-in to request a food parcel. During a conversation with our drop-in manager, Pam mentioned that her home, where she lived with her son James, was very dilapidated and not fit to live in. She told us that her toilet hadn’t been working for some months and part of a ceiling had fallen through. This rang multiple alarm bells for the manager and she arranged for a home visit to be undertaken as soon as possible.

Pam has significant mental health issues and is dependent on alcohol and the visit was difficult to arrange but our outreach worker persisted and offered to meet Pam in a café first to build a relationship. Eventually our outreach worker was allowed access to the property and found it in an even worse condition than expected and quite definitely unfit for habitation.

We contacted housing standards at Hyndburn BC and arranged to do a joint visit to assess the property. This step was necessary as without an assessment, Pam would not be accepted as homeless and there would be no duty to rehouse. While this was progressing, the outreach worker visited Pam regularly and her trust and confidence grew.

The outreach worker was also concerned about Pam’s relationship with her son as James seemed to be both very controlling and very dependent on Pam. When Pam disclosed that James had been physically abusive, we immediately raised a safeguarding concern with adult social care and followed this up when it didn’t progress. Pam was not willing to disclose to the police or to engage with social care safeguarding at this point but agreed she would engage were there to be further incidents.

Pending the housing standards assessment, our housing team worked to secure suitable accommodation for James and Pam: it was clear that Pam no longer wished to live with her son but James was reluctant to accept this. However, Maundy worked with the council and local supported accommodation providers to secure the option of a supported independent living flat for Pam and a supported house of multiple occupancy (HMO) place for James. Once they had viewed the properties they were both very pleased by these options and agreed to the plan.

Following the housing standards visit, an immediate prohibition was put on the property and we supported Pam and James to move into their new homes by arranging the changeover of utilities, assisting with tenancy sign up, donating furniture and other essentials and providing move-in food parcels. They are both doing well and our support is there for as long as they need and want it.

The complex issues Pam and James were experiencing were addressed in a holistic and joined-up way with multiple Maundy services contributing to the positive outcome. Pam and James didn’t have to go to different agencies for different issues and had one case worker who coordinated all the work and was readily available to talk through the issues and provide emotional support and friendship.