What does the Access project Do!
The Access Project provides temporary housing for motivated single homeless people who are capable of living independently. The project gives them the chance to re-establish themselves in the housing market.
Single people aged 18 to 59 do not normally have access to Council housing and so they have to fend for themselves when it comes to finding new housing. This is very difficult if you are homeless; you do not have a job; you have no money to put down as a deposit - and you are still recovering from the trauma of the events that caused you to be homeless.
In Kingston, landlords will not normally accept tenants who have to claim housing benefit. There are plenty of people who can pay cash in advance for their rent and a deposit (e.g students with parental backing and business people). Landlords do not have to take the risks and payment delays that go with the housing benefit system.
This is why we run our temporary accommodation project which is called the “Access” Project. The service is run by Vicky and Jan who are available for clients from Mondays to Fridays 10am to 5pm.
KCAH leases houses and then sub-lets them to independent living single homeless people. Each client has to pay KCAH their portion of the rent and bills and they agree a Support Plan with our staff as soon as they move in. We help them to claim housing benefit where this is needed.
We currently have 10 shared houses accommodating 44 people. Tenants can stay with us for up to 2 years and, while they are with us, we support them in their accommodation, help them to budget their money and work with them to achieve their long term re-settlement. As you can imagine, it is a huge task for 2 paid members of staff to help 44 people and so we expect each tenant to be motivated and take the lead in helping themselves.
When they are due to move on from us, we can help them obtain furniture for their new home and we will help them through the transition of moving into accommodation of their own.
Sadly, there are many people we are not able to help. Our financial resources and staff time are very limited and so we have to concentrate on those we can help most easily and effectively. Where a prospective client is encountering problems with drugs or alcohol, we ask them to deal with this first because they are unlikely to be able to sustain a tenancy, obtain work and pay rent on a regular basis. We encourage them to take advantage of the de-tox and rehabilitation services that are available to people in the area.
Each year, there are at least 70 people who are eligible to move into our shared houses but we were only able to house about 24. There is a big demand for our help.
Bob Bailey
Editor
