Trust works hard to keep roofs over heads

THE New Year can be filled with uncertain futures for those faced with the prospect of becoming homeless.

Chester & District Housing Trust (CDHT) provides a first point of contact for anyone who is in urgent need of housing or faced with homelessness.

Working closely with and on behalf of Chester City Council, last year CDHT helped to prevent more than 220 families becoming homeless through support and early assistance.

Those faced with having no home come from a vast array of backgrounds, often with complex and multiple needs and differing reasons for the circumstances in which they find themselves.

CDHT works hard to provide a solution which meets the needs of each individual and works closely with a network of specialist support and advice providers.

Last year was a tremendous year for improvement in service delivery at CDHT. In addition to the Housing Options Team, Chester HomeChoice was launched by CDHT in a joint partnership with Chester City Council.

Chester HomeChoice, the new lettings service, is now 12 months old and boasts more than 6,000 members with more than 500 new customers having moved into their new home since launch.

Christine Quinlan, chief housing officer for Chester City Council, said: “We are very proud of the strong relationship between Chester City Council and Chester and District Housing Trust’s Customer and Housing Access Team.

“We have witnessed a transformation in the way all our customers are able to access social housing and gain the information and support they need when faced with housing problems.”

Dave Shaw, executive manager customer & housing access, outlined big plans in the coming year: “We aim to build on the success over the last 12 months and to provide one point of contact for all social housing in Chester & District, working closely with other partner housing providers.

“As the largest provider of affordable housing in Chester, we are committed to helping those customers who are faced with crisis situations and need specialist one-to-one assistance.”

Robert Bisset, chief executive of Chester Aid to the Homeless (CATH), said: “CDHT works closely with CATH clients to help individuals move out of hostel accommodation.

“The trust’s housing options team provides great one-to-one support and advice to customers and offers solutions to housing issues tailored to the customers’ needs.”

Over the last 12 months, initiatives implemented by CDHT which have been successful in preventing homelessness include the provision of a free mediation service tailored for young people at risk of losing accommodation, a new focus on early intervention into crisis situations to resolve any incidence of homelessness and the provision of a team who help find quality private rented accommodation for those at greatest risk of homelessness.

The trust have also started to work closely with private landlords and have successfully housed 37 families into quality affordable private rented housing since the introduction of the Rent Deposit Scheme in April 2007. The target was 30 by April 2008.