Housing help is at hand

Facing homelessness is a frightening prospect – but there is support out there.

Lincolnshire Co-op is raising money for 14 homelessness charities as part of its Community Champions scheme. One element of the campaign is to raise awareness of how homelessness can be prevented.

All local authorities have a team dedicated to housing issues who can offer a range of advice and practical support. Last year, over 3,000 households were prevented from being homeless by those teams.

There’s a huge amount they can do including:

• Resolving housing benefit issues
• Helping with rent arrears in social and private tenancies
• Giving advice on a householder’s tenancy rights – including how much notice private landlords need to give and the process that has to be followed
• Support with deposits
• Advice on mortgages and problems with arrears

Chair of the Lincolnshire Homeless Strategy Board Michelle Howard said: “There is so much we can do to help people facing homelessness. The earlier they can get in touch the better because we can start working on their case.

“They might think there is no hope or be embarrassed but these issues are ones we tackle every day. Whatever they are facing, we can help.”