Rother's Homeless Strategy

Speaking on behalf of Rother District Council, Housing Policy and Development Manager Alison Dryden spoke of the "very complex" issues that surround Homelessness, of the "startling statistics" of Rother's findings on the subject and the plans and initiatives which they are putting in place. Alison said that whilst it is the local authorities duty to assess homelessness applications, and provide help and advice they cannot provide a home for everyone. She said: "Legally we have to take details of all homeless applications, and this in itself is a very invasive process; its not a very nice situation for anyone to be in. However, whilst it is our duty to give advice we are not automatically able to accept every application, and we simply do not have the legislative clout to provide a home to everyone who walks through the door." She explained that the strategy, guided by the government, aims to prevent people being made homeless before it gets to that stage '“ a prevention rather than a cure - and said: "Based on our review of services and homelessness in the community and the startling statistics that were revealed, we need to tackle the triggers of homelessness and provide early intervention options." Alison said that their findings show three main 'trigger' areas, which lead to homelessness. These are parental eviction, domestic violence, and landlord eviction. Scoring high on the list are sixteen-seventeen year olds, with one third of all homeless applications coming from this age group due to parental eviction, and it has become a serious issue for the council. She said: "It is our statutory duty to provide some type of accommodation for homeless sixteen to seventeen year olds, and in 2006 realised that this was becoming a problem, and this is one of the initiatives we are working on. We feel that young people of this age are best placed with their family and more often than not the situation they are in could have been prevented. They may have been evicted from the family home for something within their control, such as not obeying house rules, and we need to educate people at an early stage that this is preventable." Working alongside Hastings and Rother Mediation Service Alison said they help the people involved to try to overcome their problems, initially by talking to the person concerned and their families separately, eventually bringing them together to discuss the situation. A partnership between Rother District Council's Housing Department, Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust and Bexhill High School has been formed to deliver a new project which aims to provide students with the information to make sound decisions and to help them examine their own behaviour from another persons point of view. Funded by the Housing Department and Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust, the project is provided free to schools. Targeting fourteen-sixteen year olds, the project is currently in Bexhill High school and Thomas Peacock school in Rye but the objective is to have it placed in all five schools in the district. The idea is that by educating and focusing on slightly younger students the early intervention will not only prevent them from becoming homeless when they leave school, but will make them aware of where to seek advice on a range of issues including relationships, substance/alcohol abuse, domestic violence and teenage pregnancy. Alison said: "Our ambition is to have the project in all five schools by 2010 - it's hoped that the programme will give students a better quality of life based on giving them the understanding of their responsibilities and rights as young people. Although it will be a while before we see an impact on the statistics in this area it is something that we are very proud of." Also scoring high on the list of homelessness is landlord evictions something which Alison said was actually quite a "sweeping statement" as it encompassed a range of elements, adding: "We have to look at the secondary reasons why landlord evictions are so high." She claims these figures not only include rent arrears by tenants but by landlords facing repossession of their properties. She said: "With the current economic climate and credit crunch people are being made homeless through debt problems. We have seen an increase in people with rent and mortgage arrears and we anticipate that this will increase further. Rent arrears account for 51%, which is a huge amount, and landlords with mortgage arrears are 21%. We fully anticipate these figures will increase further as landlords evict tenants through mortgage arrears in order to either try to sell their properties or because their homes are being repossessed." Working alongside the Citizens Advice Bureau the council hope to aid people by helping them tackle debt. Alison said: "The CAB provide an excellent free advice service, helping people who have debt issues, and who are at risk of loosing their home, but also to help people who are not in education, employment or training. This is called NEET. With the aim of shortening the time that a person is in a chaotic situation." Rother have also devised an initiative for people who are made homeless due to domestic violence, and this is called the 'Sanctuary Project.' She said: "One of the reasons homelessness was so high for victims of domestic violence in the past is that they felt that the safest thing to do was to flee their home, and that their only option was to leave the area. This can result in children being uprooted from school and victims loosing their network of friends and family. Our aim is to give victims the support they need to make it possible for them to remain in their own homes and feel safe, to provide a long-term solution to improve the victim's quality of life." Alison said the service they aim to provide is to support and help the homeless and people who may be facing homelessness. She said: "We are customer driven, we want to empower people to take control of their own lives by offering advice and assistance." The Rother Community Help Point, at Amherst Road is where Rother Housing department is now based, and Alison suggests that any initial enquiries are directed there. The Help Point is open five days a week. For more information call (01424) 787 999 or visit the website at www.rother.gov.uk/housing.