whg: why tenancy sustainment is an organisation-wide priority

Who are whg?

whg are a housing association and registered charity established in 2003. We own and manage nearly 22,000 homes in 24 local authorities across the Midlands. Our primary operating area is Walsall but we stretch out to Stafford in the North and Malvern Hills, Worcester and Wychavon in the South.

Tenancy sustainment at whg

Tenancy sustainment has long been an organisation-wide priority, and whg has an ambition to not evict anyone into homelessness, with this work starting before a tenancy begins.

Prospective customers are contacted so that whg can understand their personal circumstances and tailor the service to meet their needs. When the pandemic hit, we built on this bespoke approach and developed a new style of conversation with customers that made sure the residents that needed it received a tailored and supportive service. Called Collection with Care, this approach was based on personal contact and ‘easy read’ letters, with the Income Collection Team positioning themselves as an extra cog in the support system rather than as an enforcement team.

Alongside this approach, whg have a team of accredited Welfare Rights and Debt Advisors who support customers. In 2024/25:

68 households had possession proceedings stopped due to money advice interventions and risk of eviction removed.
2,512 cases were opened for customers in need of money advice, and whg supported customers to access financial gains of £6.2 million.

whg also have a range of health and wellbeing and employment and training services to support customers and sustain tenancies. In 2024/25:

1,792 customers were supported through our health and wellbeing service.
420 customers supported to improve their employment prospects.
62 customers secured employment.
190 supported into work through the Work4 Health programme.
137 customers supported by the Social Prescribing Service to sustain their tenancies.
47 families with 84 children supported through whg’s ACEing Asthma Programme.
614 customers supported with Aids and Adaptations to their properties, to sustain independent living.

Working in partnership with other agencies

whg have a strong focus on health prevention and a commitment to collaborate with the health system to tackle health inequality.

whg work strategically with the NHS and are members of the place-based Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) Board, Walsall Together and lead the resilient communities workstream.

Some of whg’s key initiatives include:

Being a key partner on the Walsall Wellbeing Outcomes Framework, which aims to ensure wellbeing is integrated into all decisions and developments in Walsall.
The ACEing Asthma initiative between whg and the NHS. Here we aim to identify children and young people with asthma who live in whg homes, so we can optimise asthma control and help mitigate housing related and wider socio-economic risks.
Working with Birmingham University in a peer research project to shape access to digital health support, tackling health inequalities and digital exclusion.