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MCR City’s team cared deeply about resident wellbeing, but caring wasn’t translating into early action. Referrals to support were overwhelmingly made at point of crisis: when rent had gone unpaid for several months, when a situation had already compounded beyond easy resolution. The cost of crisis stage intervention, in staff resource, third party support, and tenancy failure risk, was substantial. Leadership knew earlier identification would save money and improve outcomes, but had no systematic way to make it happen. The challenge wasn’t attitude. It was infrastructure.
We undertook qualitative research with residents who had previously experienced a deterioration in their circumstances, some who had reached crisis point, others who had been supported early. What emerged was a consistent pattern: in virtually every case, there were observable signals in the weeks and months before a situation escalated. Changes in how residents communicated. Shifts in how they reported maintenance issues. Subtle patterns in payment behaviour. None of these individually were alarming. Together, over time, they told a story that trained eyes could learn to read. Crucially, our research also revealed what residents needed in order to feel safe enough to disclose early and it wasn’t a formal intervention. It was a trusted relationship and a non judgmental opening.
We developed a Wellbeing Signal Framework, a structured but lightweight tool that gave the team a consistent way to notice, record, and act on early indicators without requiring clinical expertise. It was embedded into existing contact processes rather than added as a separate workstream, which was critical to adoption. We tracked referral volumes, referral stage, and tenancy outcome data before and after. Early stage referrals quadrupled within twelve months. The proportion of cases reaching crisis before intervention fell by over a quarter. Resident feedback gathered three months post referral showed that those supported early felt significantly more trusting of MCR City than those who had only experienced reactive contact.
Head of Tenancy Sustainment & Wellbeing
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