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Some of society’s most vulnerable people have been able to find a new home during the coronavirus lockdown thanks to partnership working with local councils.

During the first month of the lockdown we let around 30 homes following referrals from our local authority partners. Those urgently in need of a home included a family living in a Premier Inn hotel with three children, customers fleeing domestic violence and a number of other people who had been living in temporary accommodation. Key workers have also been supported to leave their home to protect vulnerable family members who were shielding.

Throughout the lockdown we’ve been committed to carrying out work to any empty homes so we can make them available as soon as possible to those who need them. In the Wolverhampton area alone we’ve made 20 houses and flats ready for people to move into.

Lettings team leader, Natalie Cartwright, has been heavily involved in this process and says it’s been down to close collaboration with the local authorities and the will of colleagues across Bromford to get properties ready as quickly as possible.

“Working so closely with the local authorities has worked really well, and they’ve thanked us for being so proactive with them and other partners to move people during such difficult times," she said. "This has also been achieved thanks to our neighbourhood coaches on the ground who are working really hard to support the customers in such challenging times.

“It’s also an illustration of how our empty homes team has been so effective in prioritising so they can get homes ready for those that need them most and prepare places to live for other customers awaiting a new home.”