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Why is flooring so important?
End Furniture Poverty reports that 1.2 million people in the UK are living without flooring in their bedrooms and living areas, with the vast majority living in social housing. Flooring can be hard to afford for those on a low income, and few organisations are able to grant it. Many social housing providers remove flooring between tenants in a bid to prevent infestations and give new tenants a fresh new home. But, if tenants are on a low income, they might not be able to afford to buy new flooring and will be forced to live without it.
Landlords are not required to provide flooring outside of kitchens and bathrooms and a recent survey suggests 1.2 million people in the UK have no carpet or flooring in their bedrooms and living areas. Our new scheme has been designed to enable housing associations to provide flooring across their portfolios nationwide in the hope of easing this ongoing problem.
Living without flooring decreases the energy efficiency of homes. In fact, according to the National Housing Federation, properties without flooring can lose 15% of their heat. As winter approaches, this leaves residents with a difficult choice to make between having cold homes or unaffordable energy bills. Ongoing cold indoors could also lead to longer term impact on properties including damp and mould. Distributing energy vouchers through schemes such as HACT’s Fuel Fund can be an effective solution in combination with longer term updates such as adding flooring or window coverings to properties.
Granting carpet now will make colder months much more comfortable for beneficiaries. With energy prices remaining high, granting low-income families flooring, could be life changing.
What can FFBS help with?
We know that making a house a home starts from the floor up, but granting flooring can be logistically challenging for housing associations. From measuring, sourcing, delivering and fitting, granting flooring places an increased administrative burden on already busy teams.
This is why Family Fund Business Services (FFBS) are proud to offer a flooring solution, and can fulfil grants for carpets and flooring alongside our existing range of white goods, household items, furniture, vouchers for food and energy and cash payments. We have partnered with Carpetright, one of the UK’s leading flooring retailers, with over 300 stores and concessions across the country, making it easy for beneficiaries to access nationwide.
