A joint campaign aimed at helping people to live a life off the street, not on it has been launched. ‘Make a Change’ a partnership between us, Southend BID, Essex Police, Streetlink and local homelessness charities is just one part of delivering a detailed action plan for the High Street following the summit.
The campaign has been launched as Southend-on-Sea faces an increase in rough sleepers in the town and also aggressive begging which is causing issues for local shoppers and businesses.
The campaign has two key aims:
- to encourage people to consider donating to local homelessness charities instead of giving change to street beggars
- to encourage people to alert Streetlink to any rough sleepers this sends a notification to the council who will send outreach staff to engage with them
Are you homeless or at risk of losing your home?
Being homeless doesn't just mean you have nowhere to live at all, you can be homeless if you:
- have a home but you cannot return to it because you, or a member of your family would be at risk of violence
- have a home but have been locked out and cannot get in
- have a home but it is unreasonable for you to continue to live there
- have a moveable home, for example a boat or a caravan and you have nowhere to put it legally
How we can help?
The legislation around homelessness has changed with the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA 2017).
This will place more emphasis on the assistance each council in England can offer customers who have experienced or are about to experience homelessness. This will result in more customers being assisted as each council will no longer consider if a customer has a priority need or has made themselves intentionally homeless initially before they are assisted.
Our housing solution service can help you in the following ways:
We can assess your current housing situation and work out what your needs are.
If you are worried that you might become homeless, we can give you advice on the next steps. This service can help you if you have a physical or mental illness, if you are ex-armed forces and homeless, a care leaver and homeless or if you have been released from prison and have nowhere to live. Supported housing may be an option for you in these circumstances.
We can help you make a housing plan so you can work towards the next steps to find a permanent home.
If you are experiencing financial difficulty our team might be able to help you in these ways:
- with a one-off payment to assist with housing costs
- with rent arrears to stop you being evicted by your landlord
- if you have issues because of new benefit changes such as Universal Credit, the Bedroom Tax, Benefit Cap or Local Housing allowance
- with budgeting and managing your money at home
- with employment problems and job seeking
- with getting a smaller, more financially manageable home
Please contact the Housing Solutions Team or call 01702 215002.
Further information on Housing policies and strategies