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HomeLink helps single homeless people to find accomodation.
This year in numbers for HomeLink...
HomeLink
enabled 106 people to
find and sustain accommodation
77.26% of people who
used the services of
HomeLink were drawn
from black and minority
ethnic backgrounds -
communities who suffer
disproportionately from
the problems of
homelessness and poor
housing
HomeLink housed 43 homeless young people
under the age of 25,
who face restrictive
statutory criteria and
can face increased
barriers in the private
rented sector
HomeLink continued its
partnership with
Hackney Drugs Action
Team to house exoffenders
with a history
of substance misuse and
began work to establish
a permanent tenancy
sustainment programme
in partnership with
Quaker Homeless Action
Since 1994...
HomeLink has met with
and offered housing
advice to approximately
1,700 people
HomeLink has housed
1,367 ‘non-priority’ homeless people within
the private rented sector
Homelink
HomeLink works to enable non-priority homeless people from east London to access and sustain private sector housing.
Clifford, Mike and Hepzipha were all recently rehoused by HomeLink.
We help people into private rented accommodation. There’s no such
thing as an average client, we have all sorts of people through the door:
street homeless; people whose relationships have broken down; people
who’ve had to leave a property or young people who’ve left home and
want to be independent and lots of people who are sofa surfing - going
between friends and family. ‘Non priority’ means the local authority has
no duty to house you. That’s anyone without a dependant. We help by
providing two months’ rent in advance and a guarantee against damage.
Being there to fight the client’s corner can make the difference between
someone staying housed or being chucked out. By the time people come
to us, they're often desperate. They’ve gone elsewhere to be housed, tried
lots of places – we’re the last resort.
Clients have to be referred to us by the local
authority. They’ll arrange for people to come and see
me. I explain how we work and what we need. I
support them to look for a property and help fill in
the forms. I give them a list of agents who work with
our scheme and hints of where they might look.
Once they’ve found a flat, I help them fill out their
housing benefit form. When that's signed we send a
cheque out and they can move in. We offer further
support so people can stay housed. A lot of
landlords don’t want to take anyone on housing benefit, they want a professional, and in an area like
this where lots of people are unemployed and from
BME (black
and
minority
ethnic)
backgrounds that can be a barrier. Some
old attitudes remain, though they’re not
voiced so clearly. I live in Tower Hamlets.
I’ve seen it change a lot and for the better.
You have to keep moving forward.
I came to HomeLink nearly three years ago
as an administrator and then moved on to
become a housing officer. QSA was the
first time I’d worked in the voluntary
sector. I enjoy my job, getting people housed, sorting out housing benefit. It’s such
a complex system, particularly if you don’t speak much English.
HomeLink’s been here thirteen years. Every year we house people. Our landlords,
agents and clients are happy with us. It works for everyone. HomeLink works.
For links to other services working in the field of homelessness, please click here.
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Charity Registration No: 1069157 · Company Registration No: 3524063
