A frontline member of staff at Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association writes about the reality of the cost-of-living crisis.
"I’ve been doing this job for 20 years and for the first time I feel like I’m dreading some of the calls from customers. I feel sad I haven’t got the answers.
"If you add up the money people have coming in and what they have to spend just to get by, with the increase in costs there just isn’t enough money.
"And I know that it is going to get worse over the coming months. We are encouraging customers to apply for all the benefits they are entitled to (some they may not already be claiming) and signposting them to budgeting and financial advice services, such as Money Buddies, Citizens Advice and Stepchange.
"We also have our own Customer Support Fund in place to help to customers who are experiencing financial hardship, providing top-up support such as supermarket shopping vouchers and purchasing white goods."
Issued 07/06/22