Posted on 6th Jun
Mansfield District Council has launched a new strategy that pledges to end rough sleeping and help as many residents as possible from becoming homeless.
The Homelessness Prevention Strategy was drawn up by Homeless Link, a national charity helping the homeless, in partnership with Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark and Sherwood district councils.
Mansfield mayor Andy Abrahams said: “Homelessness is probably one of the most complex issues any housing authority has to tackle.
“The strategy sets out how (the council) plans to approach this issue in respect of its statutory duties and taking into account new legislation, which put an increased onus on local authorities to prevent people from becoming homeless.
“We need to find ways to make private rented housing more accessible to people in need of a home and better ways of resolving disputes between tenants and landlords.”
The strategy’s main aims are to:
Prevent as many residents as possible from becoming homeless.
Ensure that if anyone has to sleep rough, it is brief and does not happen again.
Help as many residents as possible to move seamlessly from one home to another without the need for emergency or temporary accommodation.
Provide a good quality service that customers are highly satisfied with.
It has various objectives to achieve its four main aims, including supporting and promoting “a proactive and integrated” benefits system. For the council this has meant increasing the number of officers who deal with rent arrears and debt, which are major causes of eviction and, subsequently, homelessness.
Helping people transfer to the Universal Credit benefit without falling into debt has also been a major focus of this work.
In addition, the strategy is looking at encouraging people to save with credit unions and to reduce food insecurity by encouraging them to grow their own food, and by providing access to free food and cooking skills classes.
Another objective is to increase the amount of social housing and the council plans to do this through a £21m programme to build more than 100 new council homes over the next five years.
But there is also a need, says the strategy, to increase access to private rented accommodation and improve the sustainability of tenancies.
Jill Finnesey, head of housing at Mansfield District Council, said: “We have new duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 to tackle this issue but reducing and preventing homelessness is not something the council can do alone.
“We need to work closely with partners, such as charities and housing associations and with private landlords to find solutions to people at risk. We want to encourage the wider community, too, to do their bit to help those at risk.
“Often people at risk have underlying problems, such as addictions, mental health issues or domestic abuse, so we need to ensure that their individual needs are met appropriately, holistically and sustainably.”
The strategy also points to local success stories, such as Mansfield’s ASSIST scheme, which is making a huge impact in reducing bed blocking in the NHS by helping patients who do not have suitable accommodation to move into after they leave hospital.
It has been working closely with Nottinghamshire County Council, too, to ensure care leavers are supported and transfer to independent living without falling into homelessness.
The three councils have asked Homeless Link to carry out a progress review this year to assess the impact of the new legislation to reduce homelessness. The full strategy can be found at www.mansfield.gov.uk/homeless
