Struggling tenants to get a helping hand to stop them being made homeless

Struggling tenants who are unable to pay their rent because they’ve lost their job or are ill, could get financial support to stop them being made homeless.

West Suffolk councils already carries out intervention work to prevent people from being made homeless.

In 2017 it assisted or prevented more than 500 households from across West Suffolk from becoming homeless and between April and November last year it assessed more than 2,000 homelessness prevention cases.

Now it has secured £320,000 of Government funding as part of a joint bid with Ipswich Borough Council, to enable it to do more work preventing tenants in the private rented sector from being made homeless.

Part of that money will be spent on hiring two new tenancy sustainment officers who will work with struggling tenants and their landlords in both council areas.

The council already has a duty of care under the Homelessness Reduction Act to people who haven’t made themselves intentionally homeless. Often that means placing individuals or families in bed and breakfast or other temporary accommodation while they work towards something more permanent.

That, however, is not an ideal setting for families, particularly children, and also comes at a high cost to the taxpayer – one which the council has worked to reduce in recent years by buying or investing in its own temporary accommodation.

Sara Mildmay, Cabinet Member for Housing at West Suffolk councils, said: “People can run into difficulties for all sorts of reasons, whether through losing their job, or dealing with an illness or a crisis in the family. Although temporary accommodation exists as a safety net, in most cases it isn’t the ideal solution.

“The successful bid for Government funding means that we will be able to do more to support people in their own home by helping them sustain their tenancy. The council recognises it is better to work with the tenant and their landlord to address any issues rather than people going through the trauma of being made homeless and being placed in somewhere more temporary. All of this is part of our ongoing work across the council to prevent and reduce homelessness.”

Ipswich Borough Council Housing portfolio-holder, Neil MacDonald, added: “This successful bid shows that central government are prepared to back Ipswich, because of its track record in tackling homelessness. Prevention of homelessness, by working together with tenants and private landlords, will be better for all concerned.”

As well as financial support both councils will work with tenants who have lost their job to help them into employment or training, while where appropriate they will also offer tenants budgeting advice.