Furniture Poverty: Lessons from SNG

Some households move into a social home with no flooring, no furniture and no white goods. Floor coverings are not included as standard in every tenancy type at most landlords, and for a household on a very low income the cost of fitting out a home can quickly turn into debt.

Erica Watts, Head of Employment, Skills and Inclusion at SNG (Sovereign Network Group) , explains why SNG treats the issue as a financial one as well as a housing one. The aim, she says, is “to prevent debt, prevent poor lending, keep homes warmer, and help them financially so that they can manage their money, pay their rent, avoid arrears.”

SNG was formed in October 2023 through the merger of Sovereign and Network Homes and provides nearly 88,000 homes  across the South and South West of England, including London and Hertfordshire. This article sets out what SNG is doing on furniture, flooring and related support, what its evaluation found, and what other landlords might take from it.

One team, one triage

Erica’s remit covers employment support, debt advice, financial inclusion and digital inclusion, all focused on tenancy sustainment as the priority. She brought these together because the needs usually overlap. Households often present with fuel, furniture or floor insecurity, but the underlying issues are often broader, involving income, benefits, work or debt.

SNG launched its Customer Support Fund (CSF) in 2022 in response to the cost of living crisis, and commissioned the Financial Inclusion Centre to evaluate it between January and August 2025. Erica says the evaluation helped to understand where their approaches to support worked best and was also a significant  driver behind SNG establishing a centralised triage team (Support For You) and obtaining FCA regulated status for its debt advice team.

Under the triage approach, requests like those for furniture grants, lead to a wider assessment of the household. The customer receives what they need at the time, and the team then looks at the longer term picture, including debt or energy advice, employment support and benefits.

“Often it’s an indicator that something more significant is going on in that household.” 

Erica Watts, on households who need an essential item

Making the grant go further

SNG’s furniture grants have gone through several iterations. Providing new items in some areas was popular with customers but costly, and it meant tight eligibility criteria. SNG are now developing local agreements with furniture reuse partners in each locality. A grant award is issued for a furniture package, currently capped at £400. The customer is referred to the partner and chooses what they want from what is available.

Erica gives three reasons for the approach.

• It supports the local charitable sector and circular economy, rather than placing all spend with one supermarket chain.

• The money goes further. As Erica puts it, £200 buys much less at Argos or B&Q than at a charitable furniture partner.

• Customers get choice, and are introduced to retail options they may be able to afford, but not been aware of, for themselves in future.

SNG is now looking to extend the same approach to white goods, so that customers can get what they need, affordably, in one place close to home.

Support is available at two points. At the start of a tenancy it is aimed at households in vulnerable circumstances, such as those fleeing domestic abuse, coming through a refuge, living with significant physical or mental health conditions, or on very low incomes. During a tenancy, customers already working with an employment coach, debt adviser or welfare benefits officer can apply when their circumstances change, to help protect the tenancy.

The purpose is to stop a family with vulnerabilities from moving in, being overwhelmed by the cost of furnishing their property, and then falling into rent arrears or taking on unaffordable credit. Erica notes a clear rise in buy now, pay later borrowing, where a missed payment can quickly lead to substantial debt and affect the ability to pay rent and bills.

The scale is a limit. Last year SNG spent around £250,000 on white goods and furniture, including second hand items, supporting just under 1,000 households. Erica is candid that this reaches only a small proportion of customers. SNG seeks external funding to help maximise provision, including the Household Support Fund when in place, and works with customers to look at other grants first to help increase the support options they have available.

Using fuel support as a way in

The same thinking applies to fuel. Previously, a customer might have been given multiple vouchers depending on their circumstances. This winter, they will receive an initial voucher so that heating can be restored or to re-dress a crisis and then followed by an energy assessment and conversation to understand the root causes.

SNG has trained staff over the last 18 months to carry out domestic energy assessments. The conversation can lead to energy advice, help with utility payments, income maximisation, employment support or debt advice. Erica also observes that some repairs relating to cold and damp relate more to ventilation and heating rather than necessarily structural or disrepair issues.

Furnished tenancies and repayable grants

In order to ensure sustainable support is in place, SNG is also exploring models that do not rely on gifting. The first is a furnished tenancies programme, linked to the End Furniture Poverty campaign. For customers who receive Universal Credit housing costs, an eligible service charge element can be used to rent essential furniture and white goods. The package is put in place as early as possible, within 10 days of moving in, and is recharged through the service charge.

This gives the household time to settle and stabilise their finances. The package can then be reduced and replaced with items the customer buys, or kept long term if that suits them. SNG facilitates the process rather than paying for the items directly but integrates additional support services for those that need them. The programme is at an early stage and the logistics are demanding with the process requiring alignment of expectations of DWP, local authorities and customers. The longer term benefit is that SNG can focus in-house support on households who are not eligible.

Erica describes one early example. A lone parent, whose first language was not English, was overwhelmed by the demands of a new tenancy. Triage identified what the household needed, and she took up financial support and employment support alongside the furniture package. She used the package for around three or four months, then began to return it as she settled. Her tenancy has been sustained and she is now working with the employment team.

A second idea, not yet in place, is a repayable grant. Customers who can afford items but not all at once would receive an interest free loan and repay it over time, with the money then re-purposed for the next customer.

Reaching the right households

SNG no longer publicly promotes vouchers, white goods or furniture grants. Erica explains that they now focus on promoting the services provided to help people find work, manage debt or who are struggling to pay for rent and bills. The grants are then used alongside advice, support and external provision to ensure those households that need them most are prioritised and that this is enhanced with externally available support. .

“What we promote is the service provision rather than the items.”  Erica Watts

Other routes include proactive contact and frontline referral.

• SNG uses commencement of tenancy reports to identify groups more likely to struggle in the first 12 months, including care experienced tenants, first tenancies under 25 and lone parents. The contact makes them aware of support, so that they can call if anything changes.

• Trades staff who visit homes can make a direct referral if they see someone struggling. They do not need to know what SNG offers or how the process works.

• Erica says that their evaluation research showed that some positive changes can fade around the 12 month point; so SNG complete proactive check in contact at around six and 12 months to help manage or mitigate any potential return of debt.

What the evidence shows

The CSF evaluation, published in October 2025, combined a customer survey, analysis of programme and rent account data, a staff consultation and a sector good practice review. The customer survey was sent to 3,577 customers and received 739 responses.

• 83% of survey respondents were satisfied with the support, 80% agreed it had a positive effect on their health and wellbeing, and 70% said they were able to keep their home warm in winter.

• The share of respondents managing their finances well rose from one in ten before support to three in ten afterwards.

• In the data analysis, 66% of recipients reported a positive impact on their financial wellbeing and 84% said their ability to manage household essentials such as food and fuel had improved.

• The proportion of customers in rent arrears fell by 47.4% after 12 months, and average arrears fell from £386.78 to £184.81, a reduction of 52.2%.

• The strongest outcomes were among customers already in financial difficulty who received several interventions, including those with four or more.

The evaluation also reported on furniture and flooring services specifically, although the numbers are small. Among Furniture Grant recipients who answered the relevant questions (17 to 19 responses), 65% said they were significantly more able to pay rent or arrears, 74% said they were better able to keep their home well decorated, and 63% said their anxiety or depression had improved. Responses for Carpets and Flooring numbered four, so those results are indicative only.

Erica cautions against crediting any single service. What made the difference, she says, was the combination and the consistency of support.

“It’s the combination of the support and the consistency in the support that then transformed the household.”  Erica Watts

The SNG approach focuses on prevention and financial resilience, however quantifying tangible benefits to both the customer and the business can be a challenge.  They are currently developing a new reporting framework that will track arrears reduction, prevention and escalation costs, and plans to compare three groups over time: households with no furniture intervention, those with a brief intervention such as a single grant or white good, and those on furnished tenancies. The measures include rent accounts, repairs, escalation, evictions and, over the longer term, void costs. Erica also notes that some households who received a white good still struggled to manage bills and the ongoing costs of the home six or twelve months later, which is why SNG have introduced structured follow ups.

What residents say

SNG has published the story of Jayne, who was referred to its employment support service in June 2025 and was working towards a customer facing role when a house fire in September 2025 left her without her home and most of her belongings. Her employment coach remained her consistent contact and arranged trauma informed sessions, while a Customer Income Adviser and SNG’s Energy Support Service helped with money, heating and bills in temporary accommodation. She has since moved back home, received replacement white goods and furniture, and started a new job.

“The support has been life changing,” she says.

SNG also gathered feedback from customers on its furniture and flooring programmes.

“Having carpet has lowered the cost of gas as my house now heats up properly. And is safe for my little ones walking around.”  SNG customer

“I moved into my home with nothing… The grant made my home feel like a home.”  SNG customer

“It meant a huge amount and made such a difference to my life as I couldn’t afford any furniture or flooring.”  SNG customer

Health co-benefits

Warmth: one customer reports that carpet has lowered gas costs because the home now retains heats better.

Safety: customers describe safer floors for young children, and another who was more prone to falling (on hard floor), linked to limited mobility.

Mental wellbeing: 63% of Furniture Grant respondents said their anxiety or depression had improved. All four Carpets and Flooring respondents said the same, though the sample is very small.

Questions for housing providers

1. When a tenant asks for one essential item, what does your triage find out about the rest of the household’s finances, and who acts on it?

2. Would a local reuse partner, or a rental route such as furnished tenancies, let a fixed budget reach more households than buying new items?

3. How will you show whether furniture and flooring support protects tenancies, and which comparison groups would you need?

Key takeaways

• A request for an essential item can be an early indicator of wider financial difficulty and works best as the start of an assessment.

• Local reuse partnerships and rental models can extend a limited budget, although SNG reports that demand still outstrips what it can fund.

• The evidence on savings is still being built. Tracking rent accounts, repairs and escalation costs across comparison groups is the next step SNG is taking.

Members who would like to share their own approach to furniture and flooring support are welcome to get in touch with the Healthy Homes Hub team.

Image credit: SNG