Meet the Team - Housing
At Citizens Advice Manchester, our dedicated housing team work everyday to help our clients with housing-related issues. If you’ve suffered from the loss of your home, unlawful eviction, housing disrepair or another issue, our team is here to help working in partnership with other Citizens Advice services and Shelter.
This week we caught up with Victoria Green, our specialist housing caseworker to find out what a ‘day in the life’ of a housing adviser is like:
Tell us about your role at Citizens Advice Manchester
I am a chartered Legal Executive employed by CAM as a specialist housing caseworker. I am the area of law supervisor for housing and responsible for a caseload of legal aid housing cases and participation in the Court Duty Solicitor Scheme Rota for Manchester County Court.
How does the housing team work?
There are two members of the housing team, myself and Sarah who is a solicitor. Our cases come from the Manchester Adviceline and from partner agencies such as Tameside, Salford and Stockport Local Citizens Advice services. We also receive referrals from Shelter under the court duty scheme. A qualifying client will be booked an appointment with myself or Sarah and we will progress the case, giving advice, preparing documents, liaising with opponents etc and representing the client at court if necessary.
What sort of issues do you help clients with?
The Housing Team is funded by Legal Aid. The most typical cases involve threat of loss of home, for example, a tenant who has received a Section 21 notice, Notice of Seeking Possession or Possession Summons, Notice to Quit or Eviction Notice from their landlord. Other issues include challenging the local authority in relation to homelessness decisions, harassment and/or unlawful eviction, housing disrepair, and defending Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions and associated committal to prison applications.
We also take part in the rota for the Duty Solicitor service at Manchester County Court. Myself and Sarah regularly attend Manchester County Court to act as Duty Solicitor to provide advice and representation to anyone with a possession hearing that day who has not previously received legal advice.
Can you give any recent examples of clients you’ve helped?
I assisted a young man who had made a homeless application to the local authority and had been found non-priority need and so he was facing street homelessness. I considered that client to be in priority need by reason of his mental health and we were able to obtain evidence of such from his GP sufficient to challenge the council's decision. We also highlighted how his previous accommodation was unsuitable for him, meaning he had no choice but to leave, and the council accepted its duty to house him. The client has since been re-housed into permanent accommodation.
I also helped a lady who, due to suffering from severe mental health issues, had not been opening her post for several months. Her housing benefit had stopped and the rent arrears increased to over £4000. Her family eventually intervened and opened all of the post to find an eviction notice which was due to be executed a few days later. We made an application to the court to suspend the eviction which was adjourned to allow time for us to make an application for Discretionary Housing Payments to clear the arrears. We obtained medical evidence to support the DHP application which was successful, clearing the arrears. The court later agreed to suspend the eviction as a result, and the client retained her home. She also accessed mental health services and was assigned a support worker to help with issues going forward.
What do you enjoy most about working for CAM?
My role at CAM is demanding and can be stressful but these are far outweighed by the rewards of helping people in some of the most difficult situations of their lives. I love meeting new people, and obtaining justice for those who may have otherwise have struggled to achieve it, and I enjoy the intricacies of the law. CAM is also a lovely place to work with friendly colleagues and supportive management.
If you need help with a housing-related issue you should call our Adviceline free on 0808 278 7800 to speak to a member of our team.