What do we mean by vulnerabilities?
We have adopted the Housing Ombudsman Service definition of vulnerable:
A dynamic state which arises from a combination of a resident’s personal
circumstances, characteristics and their housing situation. Vulnerability may be exacerbated when a social landlord ….. does not act with appropriate levels of care. If effective reasonable adjustments have been put in place, the vulnerability may be reduced.
We recognise that the following indicators could contribute to someone being vulnerable, but do not automatically mean a person is vulnerable:
- protected characteristics – age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
- health and abilities – physical health, impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, mental health issues, development condition, and addiction
- access and skills – lack of language, literacy, numeracy, digital access, and technical skills
- personal circumstances – major life events such as bereavement, redundancy, loss of income, divorce or relationship breakdown, being the victim of domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour or harassment
- financial – low knowledge of financial matters or low confidence in managing money, difficulty in enduring financial or emotional shock due to debt or a one-off unexpected expense, low or unstable income.
Other indicators could be:
- repeated failure of non-engagement with correspondence or to answering the door when visited
- hoarding, self-neglect, or other behaviours that could cause harm to themselves or their property, and their home or garden becoming unfit for occupation
- a detrimental change in appearance
- erratic or unusual patterns of rent payments and falling into arrears when the resident previously had a good payment history.
This is not an exhaustive list. We will assess vulnerability on a case-by-case basis.