Housing Advice and Clients Stories

The big news at the moment is the mortgage possession proceedings making homeowners homeless. The government is committed to providing support in the short term for borrowers facing difficulties and to ensure stability in the housing market. The Mortgage Rescue scheme entails a £1billion package to support 6,000 of the most vulnerable homeowners to remain in their home. This was announced by Government on 3rd December 2008.

There will also be Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) and this replaces the Income Support mortgage interest payments. The SMI will provide short term support through the benefits system for owner occupiers who are claiming Income Support, Pension Credit and Income Based Jobseekers Allowance if they are experiencing problems with the interest payments on their mortgage. Reducing the waiting time for SMI kicks in from 39 weeks to 13 weeks enables people to access support more quickly. This can be arranged by contact with the local jobcentres.

We are seeing a number of families or homeowners losing their accommodation due to the inability to afford their mortgages so this will be welcome news for them.

There is also a general observation that there are not enough money advisers to help people with their financial problems. There are people coming to KCAH with serious money issues but because of the Kingston CAB not doing a drop in service anymore, clients find it hard to access debt advice urgently when they need it.

Success Stories

Mr and Mrs Ali came to KCAH for help as their landlord commenced possession proceedings due to rent arrears. They were 3 months into an assured shorthold tenancy but they had problems with housing benefit as no payments were made and they did not have a benefits claim for Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). We helped them make a claim for JSA and got the housing benefit department to pay their rent. They also requested for backdated payments for housing benefit which is still being dealt with by Kingston council housing benefit department.

Ms Gotti is a single parent who fled violence from Richmond after a gang of youths burgled her home and her landlord served court possession proceedings on her. She came to Kingston and rented privately for 6 months but that tenancy came to an end and she was homeless again. Ms Gotti approached KCAH for assistance and we helped her make a homelessness application to Kingston council. She has now been offered temporary accommodation with her daughter.

Mr Watson is 61 and he was facing homelessness after his marriage broke down. He came to KCAH for assistance with housing. We helped him fill out the Housing Register application form for Kingston council so he could bid for sheltered accommodation on the Choice Based Lettings scheme. Mr Watson was then offered sheltered accommodation 3 months later as there was a surplus of sheltered studio flats in Kingston.

Patricia Nabatanzi
Senior Housing and Welfare Benefits Adviser