Posted 16.10.17
Department for Communities and Local Government: Article link
New guidance to make sure local authorities intervene earlier to help prevent families and individuals becoming homeless in the first place has been published.
The guidance, which is subject to an 8-week consultation, sets out how local councils should implement the Homelessness Reduction Act, due to come into effect in April 2018.
The new Act requires councils to provide services to all at risk of becoming homeless, on top of those with a priority need such as families with children and those who are vulnerable.
The Homelessness Code of Guidance has been drafted with the assistance of a working group of local authorities and other stakeholders, and the final version will be published in the spring 2018.
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Posted 09.10.17
Crisis: Article link
On any given night in England, 26,000 single people are facing homelessness across the country. Most of them have very few support needs and just can't find a home, according to Crisis, the national charity for homeless people.
The charity's new research shows that this group of homeless people - some of whom are excluded from council housing registers due to reasons such as past rent arrears - are ending up trapped in a cycle of homelessness or stuck in temporary shelter for months, or even years on end.
The report - Moving On: Improving access for single homeless people in England - looks at the barriers to housing encountered by adults who typically fall outside the protection of the current homelessness legislation because they are deemed low priority.
It finds that this group's access to social housing has been declining each year and Crisis is calling on the Government to end councils' use of blanket bans that stop people in housing need for registering for housing.
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Updated 13.10.17
