Council receives additional homeless prevention funding

Swindon Borough Council has received £310,175 from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) Homeless Prevention Grant.

This funding will go towards helping to prevent vulnerable households from becoming homeless as well as managing local homelessness pressures.

Most of this work goes unseen by the general public. Swindon Borough Council’s outreach workers work proactively with anyone at risk of homelessness in various ways, which can include trying to help them stay where they are, setting up payment plans for rent arrears, or making sure properties are suitable to live in.

If the Council is unable to prevent a family or individual from losing their home, officers will find alternative accommodation.

Already this year the team has helped a number of residents, including one family that had to leave their home.

This family of four, two adults and two children, were issued a notice by a private landlord who was looking to sell the property due to their own financial concerns, and the family could not find alternative accommodation.

The Council offered emergency housing. As it’s an emergency, this housing is often temporary and often takes the form of, a hotel for a short period. During this time, council officers work with local landlords to try and find alternative accommodation.

The Council was able to find a suitable privately-rented home to help the family get back on its feet.

Councillor Cathy Martyn, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Health Inequalities and Housing, said: “This funding is vital to help support the work we do to keep individuals and families accommodated so they do not become homeless.

“Finding yourself in a position where you might become homeless, and where you might literally lose the roof over your head, is incredibly frightening.

“This funding will enable Swindon Borough Council to continue to help prevent people from becoming homeless, whether that’s by enabling them to stay where they are, providing them with temporary, emergency accommodation, or by helping them to find, or providing them with, alternative housing on a permanent basis.”

If you are at risk of becoming homeless, you can find information and advice on the Council’s webpage www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20140/homelessness. If you are concerned that someone may be sleeping rough, please let us know by visiting www.streetlink.org.uk/