400 struggling households from across the Lothians, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire are £660,000 better off thanks to the hard work of a life-saving service.

The housing support service, provided by Melville, helped tenants claim grants and benefits worth £660,560 over the past 12 months, working out at an average of £1,647 for each of the 400 households supported.

“I’ve found myself on hard times recently due to the cost of living, and Melville Housing are one of the only people that helped me and my children,” said one grateful tenant. “Not one other charity or organisation were willing to help, so I thank Melville for being there when I was in need.”

The dedicated Melville team, made up of six housing officers, three housing assistants and two welfare benefits advisers, helped tenants access benefits to which they were entitled, and tap into LACER (Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery), HACT (Housing Association Charitable Trust) and Fuel Bank funds. Melville tenants also received funding from children’s charity Aberlour and Edinburgh and Lothian Trust Fund.

“The whole team has worked fantastically hard for tenants over the past 12 months and these results are testament to their efforts,” said Jane Burnett, Melville’s Head of Housing. “To have helped almost one in five of our households is remarkable and has gone some way to mitigating the impact of the rise in the cost of living that has affected us all over the past couple of years.

“This help hasn’t just put food on the table and allowed tenants to heat their homes over the winter, we often also hear about the positive impact it has on fragile mental health and in some cases can quite literally be life-saving. We appreciate the continued support of our partners and the fund providers and with their assistance we will continue to help wherever we can.”

As well as assisting with benefits, funding and fuel vouchers, Melville has also helped out by providing kitchen items such as fridges, and cost-saving air fryers and slow cookers, worth an estimated £4,500. In an excellent example of partnership and sustainable working, Melville rescued eight fridges from an office refurbishment in Glasgow. Otherwise destined for landfill, these fully working fridges were then delivered to tenants thanks to staff and the Midlothian Unpaid Work (Community Payback) team.

Melville tenants looking for help, advice or support phone 0131 654 2733 and speak to the housing section. Help is also available from independent organisations such as Citizen’s Advice.