Reducing evictions, anti-social behaviour, homelessness, and freeing-up hospital beds are some of the aims of a new ‘floating support’ service launching across Hertfordshire to help vulnerable people who need housing support.
Hertfordshire County Council has awarded a three year contract to run the service to housing and support provider SPH Housing.
The assistance provided by floating support includes:
· help if people are falling behind on their rent;
· advice on claiming benefits, bills, budgeting;
· referrals to county-wide community support services;
· support to settle-in to a new home, moving-on and contacting housing providers;
· support with neighbour disputes and harassment;
· general counselling and advice.
This is the first cross-Hertfordshire floating support service. It is free for tenants, owner-occupiers, the homeless and other people in difficult situations.
“Many worries and problems for vulnerable people are caused by housing issues,” said Cathy McCarthy of SPH Housing. “Often people may be close to losing their home and need support keeping a roof over their heads, so it makes sense to have a floating service that will get to the root of someone’s problem quicker. We have similar services that work very well in London.”
SPH Housing will be working closely with probation services, social workers, district councils, housing associations, GPs and other organisations and individuals to build a coordinated approach to meet the diverse needs of many kinds of people who need housing support: such as people with mental health problems and learning disabilities.
Mike Petter of Hertfordshire County Council said: “We think floating support is a highly effective use of our budget which we must spend carefully. With this service we are expecting to deliver a lot of early successes in helping people. If more money becomes available in the future, we may have the chance to increase the funding to over £1 million which would enable us to reach many more vulnerable people who are at risk.”
Ends