A Kineara caseworker smiling in conversation

Kineara — connected community, collective change

Building Pathways

Five Years On: Rent Support Programme (RSP+)

From the
Founder

We started the rent support programme with an awareness that people fell into rent arrears for a reason. The programme was designed to help uncover the reason collaboratively with clients to deal with the core issue. Kineara is very flexible in all our projects, we know our focus and what we wanted to do, and that is how we support people through their most challenging times. Housing is one of the biggest areas where people are struggling. Through all the projects that we've done, housing has been a dominant theme of the challenges that people are facing. The flexibility that we have has given us the ability to pivot to what is needed in the moment that underpins the success of the project. Widening our reach and widening impact — that all came from the Rent Support Programme (RSP+).Through the project, we began to identify patterns, that allowed us to expand our reach to new communities including refugees, parents in temporary accommodation via schools, lone parents and even supporting people across London through our advice line. What’s really effective about this model is the holistic, joint partnership with the Southwark Law Centre, the Southwark Council, and our referral partners.

Maria Morgan Founder, Kineara

706

individuals reached

42%

of issues were about displacement, loss of home or eviction risk

5.7

hours spent on direct 1:1 engagement per client on average

56%

clients were from Black, Asian or other ethnic minority backgrounds

£40,000%

total financial support provided to clients

461

households supported

Over five years, RSP+ supported clients through a wide range and complexity of challenges through 1:1 key worker support. The project's initial goal was early intervention to prevent homelessness. However, conditions in Southwark made early prevention difficult to deliver. As the chart reflects, the biggest chunk of referrals received faced eviction risk and/or were displaced or experienced loss of home.

Due to the overwhelming housing crisis in the borough, the Council would prioritise urgent cases where an eviction notice had already been served. Displacement, loss of home or eviction risk dominates this breakdown as it reflects the project's delivery in supporting households facing immediate vulnerability.

Issues at referral, recorded between 2021–2026.

Supporting Private Renters in Southwark

"Kineara in my case meant getting a big sister that looks after you"

Residents facing homelessness or housing insecurity need sustained, one-to-one, tailored support that Southwark Council is unable to provide. Through the project, Kineara stepped in to close this gap, working closely with Southwark Law Centre to ensure clients facing legal proceedings, including eviction and possession action, receive the specialist legal representation their cases demand.

This partnership sits alongside our wider referral network spanning health, mental health, wellbeing, employment and education services, to provide wraparound, person-centred support tailored to each client's individual circumstances.

"The gap that Kineara is filling is the support, the hands-on support that I cannot give to my clients. A lot of the clients want handholding through the homelessness process, completing a defence pack, helping them out with viewings, visiting them in person. Kineara is able to provide that full depth. A lot of the time, a lot of the clients don't trust us… they're able to feel comfortable [with Kineara]… they feel like you're advocating for them and you're not against them."

Victoria Akintewe PRS Officer, Southwark Council

To ensure each client is supported holistically, the project's flexible working model allows for in-depth assessment that many statutory services are not resourced to provide. Practitioners take the time to understand a client's full circumstances, not only the issue that triggered the referral, but also the underlying factors that led to it. This root-cause approach ensures the action plan for each client focuses on their wraparound support for their actual circumstances rather than a single presenting problem.

Through the project, practitioners delivered over 1,000 hours of dedicated one-to-one support over five years.

5.7hrs

Average per case

344 minutes of direct, in person or on call contact and advice advice on average

39.2%

Received 6+ hours of support

Needed sustained and personalised communication

24.5hrs

Longest single case

1470 minutes, most time spent in direct advice with one client

In majority, caseworkers assessed each clients' circumstances and complex needs to provide housing rights advice, mental health and wellbeing check-ins, referrals to legal and financial specialists, and pscyho-emotional support in navigating systems and situations that clients found confusing and challenging. This support frequently prevented situations from escalating, ensured clients were informed of their rights, and connected to help, even when a full housing resolution remained out of reach.

Against a backdrop of severe housing shortage in London's private rented sector, nearly 29% of cases resulted in a successful housing outcome. This includes clients who succesfully moved into suitable accommodation, clients who remained in property or where homelessness was prevented. 7% of the clients also achieved non-housing successful outcomes, such as receiving financial support or finding employment. The remaining casework reflects the depth of support required to hold a client through their most difficult times.

Direct financial support secured for clients

£39,427.32 total financial support

At times, clients needed additional support with furniture, white goods, or access to grants, benefits or compensation. Kineara supported clients with direct grants or in making successful applications to receive grants, benefits or other financial compensation.

Breakdown of financial support received by clients

At the time of referral, clients report several issues and achieved several outcomes at the end of the intervention. Client journeys depict how the clients interacted with the service from issues at the time of referral, to outcomes categories and breakdown of specific outcomes.

Journeys of 205 clients who have both an issue and outcome recorded

461 clients supported across five years

Gender

All 461 clients

Age

430 clients with age recorded · median 43.5

55.8% Black, Asian, or another ethnic minority background

44.2% White British, other White background, or not disclosed

Words clients use most often to describe their experience with RSP+

In delivering the rent support programme over five years, we identified trends and patterns in who was reaching out for housing support and where referrals were coming from. The data showed a growing number of referrals from schools, alongside referrals from social prescribers, Refuge, Southwark Communities Refugees Forum and other partners. These trends helped us identify gaps in how people were accessing support and ask how we could respond. New projects and referrals pathways through partner organisations enabled us to bridge gaps across different communities and vulnerable groups including parents in temporary accommodation, refugees, lone parents, and residents with one off housing advice needs.

Temporary accommodation

10% of all issues

Temporary accommodation issues made up a tenth of all issues reported, and a growing share involved parents referred through schools. This trend led to the School Project, piloted at Surrey Square, which became a full programme in 2024.

Refugee support

↗ Rising need a growing referral base

An increasing number of refugees were reaching Kineara for housing support with referrals from Southwark Communities Refugees Forum. We built a dedicated Refugee Project to meet specific needs.

Light-touch support

40% of casework took under 3 hours

Some cases took as little as 10 minutes. This revealed a demand for one-off housing advice. We launched the Community Housing Advice Line as a pan-London service for people who need quick, expert guidance.;

Lone Parents Support

We identified a growing need for lone parents with children under 5 who were struggling to get the right support. We developed the Lambeth Lone Parents Project.

Thank you to our Partners

Building Pathways

From the
Founder

Housing Challenges

Supporting Private Renters in Southwark

Filling the Gaps

Outcomes

Direct financial support secured for clients

Client Journeys

Who We Served