Havering's housing triage system
The number of people approaching London Borough of Havering's Housing team as homeless has doubled in a year. But the council has a range of initiatives to help them secure new accommodation.
"We have seen a massive increase in the number of people approaching us as homeless - a doubling of the number in the past year alone," says Jonathan Geall, Acting Head of Housing at Havering.
Havering's housing register usually has around 3,500 applicants. By June 2009 that figure had risen sharply to more than 9,000. The combined factors of rising unemployment, reduced mortgage availability and the high cost of housing in London had all played a part in the crisis.
Triage in housing advice
As a result, Havering has redoubled its efforts to find suitable homes for people. At the frontline of the battle to prevent homelessness, the council has introduced a ‘triage system' in its housing advice service.
When people arrive they are assessed in terms of priority. Those who face immediate eviction and homelessness receive help straight away: others are given an appointment with a housing adviser.
The Housing team is now seeing twice as many people. However, the average waiting time has reduced from one hour to 10 minutes since the triage system was introduced.
Overcrowded households
The high cost of housing means that young people in Havering often have no choice but to stay in the family home. They may wait five or six years before social housing becomes available.
Martin Pereira, Havering's Senior Strategy Officer, explains:
"The big problem in this borough is that we have a lot of young people who simply cannot access housing. They are totally reliant on the council and would be waiting years for council accommodation."
Because of this, the owner-occupied sector is the most overcrowded. The council introduced a ‘Living space' scheme to help the most severely overcrowded households - those deficient by two bedrooms or more.
Private sector rented housing is procured from landlords and offered to people ‘stuck at home'. If it is their first time living independently, households receive four weeks of housing support while they get used to being tenants.
These households are offered a five-year tenancy and retain their place on the housing register. In the first three months of the ‘Living space' scheme, more than 50 new households were set up. Similar support is offered to people who are homeless but not in priority need. More than 100 were helped into private sector rented properties during 2008.
Downsizing initiative
Havering is freeing up larger affordable rented properties through downsizing initiatives. This typically affects older social housing tenants whose families have moved out. Many have expressed a wish to move into more suitable accommodation.
A dedicated officer provides support and guidance on all aspects of the transition, throughout the process. As an incentive, households are offered up to £2,000 cash to downsize and can spend up to £3,000 improving their new home.
The council has also set up a ‘finders fee' scheme. Local landlords can receive an incentive of up to £900 if they agree to rent to potentially homeless or overcrowded households. These often cannot pay a deposit or rent in advance.
Improving quality of life
The Leader of Havering Council, Councillor Michael White, says:
"Affordable and appropriate housing for our residents is one the major objectives in our 20-year ‘Living ambitions' plan to improve the overall quality of life in our borough.
"Our Housing team has implemented these initiatives to help and assist people into appropriate housing during the current economic climate.
"We also are working with the government to come to an agreement on the number of affordable homes we can build in the borough. Obviously, if we can help more people into private accommodation, there will be fewer people on our waiting list and less pressure on our housing stock."
Contact
Martin Pereira, Senior Strategy Officer
London Borough of Havering
email: [email protected]
Published July 2009.