Open Meeting - 1 October 2024

14th November 2024

Dorchester Poverty Action Open Meeting

In October, Dorchester Poverty Action (DPA) held its annual open meeting.  This year the topic was social housing and Ian Wood, Specialist Services Manager for Sheltered and Support Services for Magna, gave a very informative and enthusiastic talk.    Money Matters was set up in Dorset in 2013 to help their tenants deal with money issues.  Very quickly the service grew and an additional service was considered to help tenants with non-financial issues that affected their tenancy.  In 2014 the team managed to claim £1.1 million for their tenants, which gradually rose to over £2 million.  Over the 10 years the service has been running, nearly £20 million has been claimed and in 2021 thirteen evictions were prevented.  One of their biggest non-financial concerns is hording, which is often a mental health issue.     Collaborating with many statutory and community groups they work to make life better for their clients. 

The care, enthusiasm and hard work to make a difference for their tenants stood out.    Many questions were answered relating to DPA’s work with Magna and all those who attended felt it was a positive, worthwhile meeting.