Tenancy Support Service

The Tenancy Support Service (TSS) works to help TMO residents who are experiencing difficulties in maintaining their tenancy and may be at risk of homelessness without appropriate advice and intervention. The Service is provided by the Council’s Social Inclusion Team and is funded by the Supporting People (SP) programme, which is a national programme aimed at providing support and assistance to vulnerable people in their homes.

For more information, please read the article below or download the TSS information booklet.

Introducing the Tenancy Support Service

The aim of the Service is to prevent residents losing their homes, and to ensure that identified needs are supported and additional services can be brought into assist where required. The Service has three dedicated Tenancy Support Officers who are located throughout the Borough and work with up to 50 residents at any one time.

The Service is open to all residents accommodated by the TMO, including tenants, leaseholders and hostel tenants, who are considered to be or may consider themselves to be vulnerable. The Supporting People programme lists the types of vulnerable client groups, which SP funded services should assist, and include but not limited to the following groups;

• Homeless people
• Older people
• People with learning disabilities
• People with mental health problems
• People with drug and/or alcohol problems
• Ex-offenders
• Refugees
• People with physical disabilities
• Young parents
• Young people

The Service provides support and assistance to two different types of residents, and in essence the eligibility for referrals is very similar, the only difference being the actual accommodation you are living in. This can be broken down to

• General needs tenants and leaseholders – persons who have a permanent tenancy or lease with the TMO
• TMO Hostel residents – persons who have been placed by the Council into temporary accommodation TMO Hostel, and are awaiting a permanent housing option, which may be a TMO or Registered Social Landlord Tenancy, accommodation through the Council’s rent deposit scheme or alternative supported housing accommodation

The eligibility criteria below explains how a resident can be referred to the Service, and what a resident can expect from the Service. Where applicable, additional information will be added for TMO Hostels residents as processes may be slightly different.

Eligibility

• To be considered for the Tenancy Support Service there are some basic eligibility criteria that the resident must meet:
• The resident must be a Tenant or Leaseholder of the TMO OR are a Tenant in the TMO Hostels
• The Resident must be experiencing difficulties in maintaining their tenancy or at risk of losing their home.
• The Resident must be assessed as being vulnerable by a Tenancy Support Officer
• The Resident must be willing to work with an officer to establish and work through a support plan to addressing tenancy problems and reaching solutions to ensure a positive outcome and that they do not lose their home.

Referral Process

If the resident meets the eligibility criteria for the Service, a referral form must be completed. The referral form collects basic information about the resident and the reasons why the tenancy is at risk. This will help the Tenancy Support Officer to prioritise referrals depending upon the nature of the information provided and screen out any inappropriate referrals.

The Service can receive referrals from a wide range of agencies including TMO Housing Officers, Social Workers, Police, GPs and voluntary and community agencies. It is also possible for TMO residents and/or their family members to refer directly to the service without needing to contact their Housing Officer.

Please note that the person making the referral must have the resident’s consent in order to contact the Service, to comply with Data Protection requirements as the referral form will provide confidential information, which the resident must know about before being sent to the service. Any referrals from professional services as Social Workers and GPs should also include additional reports and information, such as needs and risk assessments and any other relevant reports as part of the referral to assist in the assessment process.

The referral form is available from and can be sent back to:

TMO Tenancy Support Service, Social Inclusion Team, Room G29, Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX.

Telephone: 020 7361 3008

Email: HASP@rbkc.gov.uk

Web: www.rbkc.gov.uk

The form is also available to download here: TSS TMO Referral form

All TMO Hostel residents are placed into their accommodation by the Housing Needs Department under the Council’s homeless duties. It has been recognised by you being placed, the Council considers you to be vulnerable and requiring support, subject to any legal decision the Council may make whilst you are in the TMO Hostels accommodation.

You are automatically referred to the Service as a result of being accommodated in the TMO Hostel accommodation, and you are required to fully engage, to ensure that you be advised and assisted of your future housing options, and if you are to be considered for permanent housing through the Council’s Housing Register, you will need to engage with the Service to be awarded housing points to be able to move on.

Assessment Process

Upon receiving the completed referral form, a Tenancy Support Officer will assess the information provided and consider if the Service is suitable to assist. This may involve contacting residents, family members or professionals involved to obtain additional information or clarification, therefore it is important that any relevant additional information is provided to speed up the process.

If a referral is not suitable, the resident will be written to explaining the reasons why the Service will not be assessing the resident. It may be that the resident is not eligible or not suitable for the Service and/or another service is better equipped to deal with the resident, which the Service can provide advice on referring to.

If it is agreed that a resident is suitable based on the referral form, an appointment will be made to complete a needs assessment. The needs assessment is a set of questions that the Officers will ask to get further information on the resident, and to determine the level of needs, and who is best to meet those needs.

After the needs assessment has been completed, a further decision will be made on whether the Service is the best service available to meet the assessed needs of the resident. If no, the resident and the referring agency (if different) will be informed of the reasons why and advised of other services that may be of further assistance.

If yes, the resident and the Tenancy Support Officer will draw up a support plan as soon as possible after the assessment has been completed.

Support Planning Process

The Service delivers support through a support plan, which is created and devised from the completed needs assessment. A support plan is written agreement between the resident and the Tenancy Support Officer in a similar way that a tenancy is an agreement between a tenant and a landlord like the TMO. In some cases the support plan may involve other relevant persons, such as family members, Housing Officers or Social Workers to meet the support needs identified.

The Service aims to provide support and assistance in the following areas:

• Addressing rent arrears
• Advice and assistance on housing options
• Maximising income and budgeting skills
• Registering with a GP surgery
• Referral to specialist services to meet identified health/financial/social needs. This may include employment, education, training, statutory health and social care services , local community and voluntary sector organisations
• Practical, social and emotional support.
• Accessing services in the local community.

TMO Hostel Residents will be required to engage with the support plan, as under the new Housing Allocation Scheme introduced in July 2007, the Tenancy Support Officers will be responsible for assessing and awarding ‘Qualifying Individual’ points after a period of time in the hostel accommodation, which will be the primary way that you can move on into housing through the Common Housing Register or Rent Deposit Scheme.

If TMO hostel residents do not follow the agreed support plan, s/he cannot be considered for the ‘qualifying individual’ housing points, and this may result in you losing this accommodation.

The only exception to this is that residents that have been accepted as Statutory Homeless by the Council will be awarded different points, however as part of the suitability recommendation for temporary accommodation, it is recognised that the resident requires additional support, so the Housing Needs Department will place the resident into TMO Hostels, so the resident will be expected to engage with the Service. Failure to engage will mean that the resident’s case will be referred back to the Housing Needs Department, to be moved to alternative accommodation which may be in other parts of greater London area, so also losing their accommodation in the TMO Hostels.

Review and Case Closure Process

The Service aims to work with a resident for about three to six months, depending upon the agreed support plan and how successful the support plan has been in resolving the identified problems. The support plan will be reviewed on an ongoing basis as different goals are achieved and problems resolved. A formal review will occur, usually at 6 months although it could be sooner, as in many cases this will be to close a case.

The Tenancy Support Officer will review the resident’s case and may consider ending the service at this stage if all parts of the support plan have been achieved. The Officer may also close the case if the resident has not engaged with the support plan. In closing a case, the Officer can offer advice on additional services which may be able to assist the resident in the long term.

As part of the case closure process, you will be sent an exit questionnaire to provide feedback on the service you have received. It is very important that you complete the questionnaire as it will provide useful feedback on the Service, and helps us to ensure that we can identify gaps in service and ensure that the Service is relevant to meeting peoples’ needs.

Complaints Procedure

If a resident is not accepted or the Service is ended and the resident disagrees with this decision, s/he has the right to appeal the decision. The resident also has right to complain if s/he feels that they have not received a suitable service from the Tenancy Support Service.

If the resident wishes to complain about the Service, this must be done using the Council’s Corporate Complaints form, which is available from Council buildings such as libraries or from the Housing Complaints Officer at the Town Hall.

If a resident wishes to complain about TMO services, they must contact their TMO Housing Officer for further information.