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Housing Advice Service
Housing
Advisor Report
The Independent Housing Advice Service has continued to provide a
comprehensive service throughout the year to inform, advise and support
people to retain, maintain and attain accommodation. Many people have
benefited from our support around numerous issues such as rent arrears,
evictions, loss welfare benefits, unsuitable housing conditions,
violence and harassment from others and problematic Landlords.
Information and advice has been provided around numerous issues
including Tenants rights and responsibilities, Homelessness legislation,
Welfare Benefits, addressing debt and housing options. This has
required making various referrals, liaising with other agencies,
challenging decisions around homelessness and welfare benefits,
negotiating with landlords and advocating or acting on a service user’s
behalf at case conferences or in court.
Statistics
Over the last year we have provided support for a total of 224 people:
105 male, 119 female of which 77 experienced some form of disability. Of
this total we have helped 92 to find accommodation, prevented
approximately 62 families from being homeless and provided on-going
support for 95. We have also supported service users to access other
agencies including Primary Health care (15),Employment (4), Drug/Alcohol
services (11), Mental Health Services (11), Local Council Housing
Department (52)
Housing Trends
In line with national trends, there has been an increasing reliance on
private rented accommodation over the last year which has created
significant difficulties for many of our service users who are unable to
compete with people who are employed and do not have complex needs.
Difficulties for those on Housing Benefit have been exacerbated since
the introduction of the Rent deposit scheme and Local Housing allowance,
as some landlords mistrust the involvement of outside agencies and
prefer to rent to those not on benefits, or have additional demands such
as paying for credit checks or two months rent in advance which is not
possible for people on low incomes. With a responsibility to identify,
encourage and support initiatives which will improve opportunities for
homeless people and address issues affecting our service users, over the
last year we have:
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Represented
HOPE at a strategic level by working with other agencies including
the Local Authority and other housing providers to identify and
address current housing issues.
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Participated in
Housing Research undertaken by Shelter and the Local Authority to
inform future housing need and provision
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Worked closely
with Private Landlords to advocate for our service users, promote a
mutual understanding of issues relevant to both parties and provided
an advice service for Landlords regarding problematic clients and
legislative changes which impact on their business. This has
included taking the role of Secretary for the Bassetlaw Landlords
Association
Related Trends
Over the last year we have seen a substantial increase in the number of
people requiring assistance with debt in order to prevent homelessness.
However, assisting people to address their debt issues is very labour
intensive as it often requires extensive liaison with a multitude of
Creditors as well as significant amounts of time spent dealing with
Welfare Benefits issues which primarily focus around housing arrears
accrued as a result of non-payment or deductions from Housing Benefit
payments for a variety of reasons.
Housing Advice Service
Services provided this year:
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