Decision details

To set aside up to £20,000 from the council’s Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG) to prevent homelessness by supporting households who have fallen into financial hardship. (HPG is grant funding provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to help local authorities tackle homelessness.)
This funding will be used to support households with rent arrears, including former tenant arrears, with a view to helping them secure (or retain) settled accommodation.
To ensure this initiative supports those who have fallen into genuine hardship, a number of measures will be introduced, including:
• The Housing Options Service being satisfied that an applicant’s financial hardship has come about for reasons other than wilful neglect. (Examples of wilful neglect include: having sufficient income to meet their essential outgoings and having no support needs; having support needs but failing to address those needs by refusing to engage with relevant support agencies, etc.).
• A requirement for the applicant to accept debt and/or budgeting advice, and to continue to engage with other support agencies, as appropriate, and that any other remaining debts are manageable.
• The Housing Options Service being satisfied that, as a result of this intervention, the applicant will be able to secure, or retain, ‘settled’ accommodation (i.e. accommodation will be available for at least the next 6 months).
• That the applicant participates in a 6-month review with the Housing Options Team, to evaluate the overall effectiveness of this initiative.

One of the council’s strategic housing priorities, as set out in our Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, is to prevent homelessness. This initiative will help support this strategic housing priority by widening the options available to the Housing Options Service to prevent households from becoming homeless. In particular, this initiative will help remove some of the barriers households in financial hardship can face when seeking accommodation via Homeseeker (i.e. the council’s Choice Based Lettings Allocations Scheme).
Whilst the council wishes to prevent homelessness wherever possible, it is important that we also ensure that any support we provide goes to those households who have fallen into genuine financial hardship, rather than as a result of any wilful neglect. Households who may benefit from this initiative will therefore include, for example: those who have become trapped in a coercive relationship where financial decisions have been made for them; those who have experienced a drop in income and have been unable to adapt quickly to these changes; and those who have experienced a deterioration in their mental health and/or support needs, resulting in a weakened ability to manage their financial affairs effectively. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list.
The aim of this initiative is to help break the cycle of financial hardship and homelessness, rather than being simply a ‘quick fix’. Applicants will be expected to receive support from relevant agencies where necessary, such as debt and money/budgeting advice, and to complete a 6-month review with the Housing Options Team to evaluate the overall effectiveness of this initiative in preventing homelessness.
To gain as much value from this initiative as possible, the Housing Options Service will implement the following criteria:
• An applicant will be assisted only once through this initiative;
• Any requests for assistance over the value of £1,000 will require approval from the council’s Housing Options Manager;
• There will be an overall cap of £2,500 for each applicant, unless there are exceptional circumstances, to be agreed by the Housing Options Manager in consultation with the Head of Strategic Housing.

Not to move forward with this initiative. This is rejected for the reasons set out above.

This initiative is supported by our Cabinet Member for Housing and Customer Services.