Case Study: Anglicare SA’s Client-Centered Approach to Housing Support
I am a financial counsellor with Anglicare SA. Our NFP organisation encompasses a multitude of community service supports, with a focus on providing an individual integrated approach to client services, ensuring we involve them in the decision-making process.
Kirsty became a client of Anglicare SA financial counselling service in October 2022 as she was significantly behind in her mortgage repayments. She had recently received a diagnosis of heart disease, shortly after leaving a long-time domestic violence relationship.
Due to her presenting issues, she had, over time, become behind in her mortgage and was to attend a court hearing for the arrears matter. She was in receipt of the Job Seeker payment and was concerned about her ability to maintain the loan and the risk of losing her property.
After gaining consent, I contacted the bank that held her mortgage. After months of back and forth and not getting anywhere with the bank I contacted their Internal disputes resolution team.
Things started to move forward and we were starting to be heard. Kirsty formally rented out a room at the rear of her home as well as a room within the home, increasing her income to reflect affordability of servicing the loan. She also applied for the Carers payment (as she always cared for her cousin), further increasing her income.
The arrears had escalated to $20,160. Kirsty was to maintain payments for three months to show affordability, which she did. From there she was asked to increase the payments to reflect current interest rate rises. She did this also.
Eventually she was approved for capitalisation of the arrears (which we were initially told would not be an option) and, if she maintained the repayments, she would be able to keep her home.
“I honestly do not know what I would have done without your help. I cannot thank you enough for all your support.” – Client accessing Anglicare SA financial counseling service
Anglicare SA is a North Adelaide place-based FIAP member. Read more about the North Adelaide FIAP here.
