THE LATEST ON HOUSING ADVICE

SPEAR, who mainly work with homeless people in Richmond, now have an outreach team that has started coming to Kingston to assess rough sleepers in the area and they allocate them ‘CHAIN’ numbers.  These numbers might enable them to get into hostels in the whole of the London area as well as the local YMCA hostel in Surbiton.    In Richmond there is a rent deposit scheme which gives out rent deposits to 20 applicants a year in Richmond. The applications are allocated fairly early in the year to people placed by SPEAR rough sleeper team

Kingston council now has a visiting team headed by Claudia Kane. This consists of two visiting officers.  If a homeless person makes an application to the Homeless Persons’ Unit while still living with family or friends in their home, the visiting team will see the client in the home to ascertain if they can stay there any longer.    The aim of this is to determine whether making a homelessness application can be avoided.  Alternatively, clients are advised to apply to go on to the Kingston Housing Register to see if they can make a successful bid for a council property using the Choice Based Lettings system.  These policy changes are in line with government directions to reduce the number of homeless families in temporary council accommodation by 2010.

However, on the Choice Based Lettings system, there are very many applicants bidding for the same properties and the majority will be waiting years before they successfully bid for a council property.   There are over 5,000 people on the Housing Register and only a handful of properties become available each week.

Success Stories

Mrs Kwame is a single parent with 3 dependant children. She currently lives in temporary accommodation provided by Kingston council. She had been suffering from the effects of severe damp, mould and condensation and could not use part of the property due to the severe mould. Her children also developed breathing difficulties and asthma due to these conditions. Mrs Kwame went to her local MP who referred her to KCAH for advice with her housing problem.  We contacted the Private Leasing department at Kingston council and they agreed to send a surveyor to the property to assess the damage. A few weeks later the landlord cleaned the walls in the property and an anti mould spray was put on the walls so the problems were rectified. Mrs Kwame was very happy with the help she received from KCAH.

Mr Smith is a young man who was homeless after his marriage broke down and he had nowhere to live. He came to KCAH two years ago and we managed to find him a vacancy at the YMCA hostel in Surbiton. He recently had an interview with the Access Project and has now moved into a new tenancy within the project.

Ms Osman fled domestic violence from her husband and was also suffering from ill health but this was not enough for Kingston council to classify her as a vulnerable adult.  She came to KCAH for advice and we managed to place her in the local YMCA hostel where she resided for a year. She has now found her own private rented accommodation in Kingston and is very happy with the service she received from KCAH.

Patricia Nabatanzi
Senior Housing and Welfare Benefits Adviser