With little attention in the current political climate, the Bill became an Act this week. Extending the period by which a local housing authority will intervene to prevent homelessness from 28 to 56 days is welcomed by most. It’s an amazing opportunity not just to put crisis-measures in post, but to undertake service-related to work to put right what has gone wrong, before the consequences result in homelessness, misery, expense and a crisis. We worked with a young man who was summoned by his local housing authority with the threat of eviction from an Introductory Tenancy. In the few weeks we had he was able to sort out his Universal Credit claim, attend our Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS) course, communicate with his social landlord about what he was doing and regain control and confidence about putting it right. His arrears are now cleared, his risk of eviction put to one side and his home as secure as it can be. It can be done, but it takes time and resource to do it.
