Housing advice and client stories
During December we are short staffed as Vicky and Matt are away. Thanks to the Management Board we have a board member coming in during the morning drop in sessions from 10am to 1pm during the week days.
Client wise the numbers are still steady and the Winter Night Shelter opened on 1st December. On the first day we had 5 clients who had signed up to go into the Night Shelter on the first night and this is likely to build up to 12 by Christmas.
We are forecasting that we will see over 600 new clients during the year ended 31st March 2010 which is quite monumental!! No wonder every day has been extremely busy!
Success Stories
Mr Hill is a 57 year old man who was living with his residential landlady in Chessington. Her property was repossessed in March this year and he initially moved to Scotland but could not find work there. He returned to London and was rough sleeping or staying in different night shelters for around 5 months. He came to KCAH for assistance with accommodation and we managed to place him in the local hostel. He also applied to join the Kingston Housing Register in order to bid for housing on the Choice Based Lettings scheme. After only 2 , Mr Hill bid successfully for sheltered accommodation and moved into his sheltered flat last month !
Mrs Meara was a former Access Project tenant who moved out to go and live in the private sector. She lived there for 7 years but, unfortunately, the residential landlord then sold the property and she was issued with a Notice Seeking Possession. She is 61 and came to KCAH for assitance with her housing matter. She was already registered on the Kingston Housing Register but had not been successful bidding on the Choice Based Lettings. She made a homeless application to Kingston Council and was placed in temporary accommodation until she makes a successful bid for sheltered accommodation.
Mr and Mrs Reza live in the local area. Mr Reza used to live in the Netherlands where he had work but his wife came to England to be near her family as she was ill and needed family care support. This did not work out as planned and so Mr Reza gave up his work and came to join her. Mrs Reza was claiming Income Support as they have dependent children but, when she requested that her husband join the claim, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) turned him down on the grounds that he was not habitually resident. They approached KCAH for assistance in their benefits matter and we helped them lodge an appeal against this decision. 5 months later he won his appeal. In the process he became ill himself and had to claim Disability Living Allowance. The DWP backdated the Income Support award to November 2008 as that is when he joined the family from the Netherlands.
Patricia Nabatanzi
Senior Housing and Welfare Benefits Adviser
