The council has scored a double victory at the national Housing Innovations Awards last week.
Thurrock won in the category of Most Innovative Approach to Resident Welfare with its unique programme supporting some of the borough’s residents.
The council faced the challenge of a small group of tenants who, due to complex mental health, addictions and disengagement have been at high risk of losing, or have lost, their tenancies resulting in homelessness, poor quality of life and limited future prospects.
Our response was an innovative project, the Complex Housing Intervention Programme (CHIP): which is a collaborative approach between Housing, Adult Social Care and Health involving a multi-disciplinary team working intensively just with this group of tenants.
Cllr Mark Hooper, Cabinet member for Health and Well-being and Social Housing, said: “This is excellent example of how intelligent, joined up working can transform services. The CHIP team is fully committed to tenant welfare, having demonstrated this through success with individual cases. Their work has literally turned lives around.”
The council scored another victory at awards ceremony, held at the ICC in Birmingham on Wednesday 4 February,
The council’s housing team were also highly commended in the category of Most Innovative Approach to Tenant Communications for its Property and Well-being Check-in programme.
Since May 2025, the check-in programme has reshaped resident communications by prioritising face-to-face, on-the-day problem solving. It replaced transactional audits with personal, conversational visits focused equally on property condition and well-being. The council’s teams have visited more than 1,500 properties and engaged over 3,200 tenants and residents through practical conversations focused on outcomes.
The annual national Housing Innovation Awards are organised by Housing Digital.
Picture: CHIP Team members Alex James (Outreach Worker, left) and James Lakey (Principal Psychologist & Team Lead, holding award) with representatives from the Housing Innovation Awards team
