Three new London Boroughs join Capital Letters

Three new London Boroughs join Capital Letters

5th June 2020

Capital Letters’ membership now consists 50% (16) of London Boroughs.

Capital Letters, a not-for-profit company, set up to prevent and relieve homelessness across the capital, welcomes Enfield, Hackney and Newham to their membership.

All three London Boroughs joined Capital Letters from April with plans for them to become fully operational by June whilst we work through the implications of COVID-19 on our service.

Chief Executive, Sue Coulson said: “We are delighted that 50% of London Boroughs are now members of the company, giving us a much stronger foothold in the market and therefore the ability to drive benefits for our members. Capital Letters mission is to work in partnership and collaboratively to solve the homelessness crisis in London and working with as many members as possible is how we can achieve this ambition – encouraging new members to join the company is an essential part of this.

“These new members are fundamental to our growth and our plans to procure and manage over 20,000 properties for homeless households over the next three years. One of our guiding principles is to assist member boroughs to reduce the costs of homeless provision – the more members we have, the greater the opportunity to control the market and drive down costs. It also means that our tenancy sustainment service will be extended to more households who need it, supporting more families to stay in secure homes

“We are continuously working to increase our membership and aim to have 26 London Boroughs by 2022 to continue to reduce councils’ costs and keeping families close to their communities and successfully maintaining their tenancies.”

If you are a London Borough and would like to know more about Capital Letters or how you can become a member, please email: sue.Coulson@capitalletters.org.uk or contact us

 

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Capital Letters announces two new senior appointments

Capital Letters announces two new senior appointments

5th June 2020

Capital Letters, a not-for-profit company, owned by 16 London boroughs to prevent and relieve homelessness across the capital, has appointed a new Director of Operations – Elizabeth Harper and a Head of Acquisitions – Roy Dunbar.

 

Over the next three years, Capital Letters plans to procure over 20,000 properties for homeless households, reducing member councils’ costs and keeping families close to their communities – something which has often been very hard for London boroughs to do.

Elizabeth Harper has been appointed to lead Capital Letters’ operations, including procurement of homes for homeless households and our vital tenancy sustainment service as well as the development of our housing management and customer services. Elizabeth has a background in social and supported housing and joined Capital Letters in March as part of the Executive Team led by Sue Coulson, Chief Executive.

Director of Operations, Elizabeth Harper, said: “Having spent the majority of my career working to deliver excellent outcomes for homeless people I am very pleased to be part of this innovative company and to assist our member boroughs to address some of the intractable issues facing them. I am focussed on leading the team to bring the best experience for our borough members, the landlords we work with and – most importantly – supporting households to sustain their tenancies in our endeavour to house London’s homeless families.”

Head of Acquisitions, which is a new position at Capital Letters responsible for the procurement service, has been taken up by Roy Dunbar. Roy, who joined the team in April, has extensive experience of procuring accommodation for homeless households having worked in this area for a number years and for a range of London Boroughs. We are delighted that he has joined us at an important time in our development as we welcome 3 new London borough members to the Capital Letters family and step up our activities as a consequence. Roy’s timing couldn’t have been better as we are also now supporting our member boroughs to procure homes to enable them to house rough sleepers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Executive, Sue Coulson said: “With Elizabeth and Roy now in post, we will be able to accelerate our procurement activities and provide the best possible service for our members and the people they house. I am delighted to have them both on our team. Both have a wealth of experience which is essential to the growth of Capital Letters and essential to ensure we achieve our targets and that our tenancy sustainment service is best in class, enabling families to successfully secure their future and put down roots in their communities.”

 

 

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