Affinity Sutton Helping People Put Down Roots

Affinity Sutton is one of the largest providers of affordable housing in England. It supports residents and communities through a team of 44 dedicated staff in its Work & Enterprise, Financial Inclusion and Neighbourhood Investment teams.

Affinity Sutton's programme of support aims to deliver three things for the people and places it works in: jobs, money and community. The focus of dedicated teams is to support residents into work and training; maximise income and boost financial stability; and strengthen local communities.

The establishment and endowment of a Community Foundation with £53m helps support Affinity Sutton's community programmes and will provide a sustainable source of funding in the future for projects that in the past have been reliant on time-limited external funding.  

Affinity Sutton runs a wide range of programmes in each of these three areas, with central management allowing significant cross referral between them - which enables employment and financial guidance to be built into a mentoring project for young people for example.

It has also sought to identify ways of extending provision to residents and areas where direct on the ground support cannot be provided for example through telephone helplines; training residents as debt advice workers; and developing tools such as an 'Affordability Matrix' for residents to self-budget. Partnerships are another key aspect of the programme working alongside organisations like Credit Unions and homeless agencies. Just some of the initiatives include: a Savings Gateway to match residents savings with credit unions; jobs fairs; providing energy efficiency advice through home visits by a 'Green Doctor'; using fashion and football as the basis of youth engagement programmes; providing grants for residents to grow fruit and vegetables on disused land around estates.