Help for young tenants is at hand
East Durham Homes, Centrepoint and District of Easington Council have been working together to launch a new project aimed at young people aged 16-25 about to move into independent living. The project will help them with the life skills needed to manage and sustain a tenancy.
The initiative called Easington Life Wise Project has initial funding for 18 months from North Peterlee Pathfinder and District of Easington Homeless Prevention Fund. The bid was jointly drawn up by East Durham Homes, District of Easington Council and Centrepoint, however wider providers, including Connexions and the PCT have also shown support to the initiative.
The project came about from the work of Heather Lane the Welfare/Debt Advice Officer at EDH who found that young people needed advice at an earlier stage, preferably prior to a housing allocation being made. The project will provide training workshops as a way of helping young people sustain or prepare for tenancies and thus improve their health and financial management. The accredited workshops will include areas such as managing a home, assertiveness, living on a budget, dealing with debt, cooking and nutrition and sexual health.
It is envisaged that this project will reach young people at an early stage in a non-threatening way and may encourage more young people to access floating support services, which can be provided by EDH or other support agencies, all of which will aid in sustaining tenancies and reduced homelessness. The floating support service helps East Durham Homes tenants manage and maintain their tenancy. Under the scheme support is provided for a period of time to a tenant until the support needs have been met. The service then ‘floats off’ to another tenant who needs it.
Andrew Burnip, District of Easington Council's Homelessness and Housing Advice Manager, said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with East Durham Homes, Pathfinder and Centrepoint to fund and develop this exciting new initiative, which directly links into our work in preventing homelessness across the district. Many young people lose or are unable to secure a home because they have not developed the skills to live independently. We hope Easington Life Wise will enable many more young people to find and keep a home."
For more information please contact Mick Turner, Homelessness and Housing Advice Officer for District of Easington Council on 0191 527 0501.