By Alison Eastwood, Development Manager at the Bond Board
Covid-19, the cost-of-living crisis and the impending Renters Reform Act have hit the private rented sector hard.
The number of people being evicted by a bailiff following a ‘no fault’ eviction has risen by 41% in England in the last year. The number of Greater Manchester households facing eviction has reached its highest level on record, with a total of 448 section 21 ‘no fault’ notices served between April and June of this year (Ministry of Justice, August 2023).
Look behind those figures and you’ll find ‘buy-to-let’ landlords raising rents as interest rates go up and those selling up before the Renter’s Reform Act takes effect. You’ll find families in rent arrears struggling to pay rent increases of more than £200 a month, people whose relationship with their landlord has broken down, properties causing health problems due to disrepair and those dealing with the shock of receiving a ‘no fault’ eviction – a bombshell that reverberates around the whole family.
The lack of affordable re-housing options adds another layer or trauma with only two ‘affordable’ (within LHA rates) private rented tenancies available in Rochdale between May and October 2022 (Dataloft 2022). The final blow comes from the Homeless Officer who advises of ‘months’ or ‘years’ before an offer of social housing is likely.
The Bond Board is a Greater Manchester homeless charity, with a 30-year track record of delivering impactful homeless and housing services for a variety of major funders. It’s not surprising that during the current housing crisis our service users tell us they are ‘scared’, ‘isolated’, ‘depressed’ and ‘in a deep hole with no way out’. Our service users are resilient, but they also face challenges which include a lack of affordable housing options, lack of money, benefit issues, rent arrears, food/fuel poverty, health problems and social isolation.
We know many struggle to access telephone support from an advice line, due to lack of skills, confidence and/or resources. For those with issues such as a learning difficulty or depression, accessing complex legal housing advice over the phone and acting on that can be very challenging. It’s also hard to make major decisions when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, or the gas meter has run out.
We set up the Tenants’ Advocacy Service (TAS) during the pandemic, with initial funding from the Greater Manchester Mayoral Fund and the Lottery Community Fund. We sought to prevent homelessness by advising low income private rented tenants, whose tenancy was at risk, at an earlier stage than the 56 day Relief Duty.
Our model combines specialist housing advice and landlord/tenant mediation with holistic support work – a unique approach that enables one specialist worker to provide all services for as long as it is needed, in whatever location works for the service user. We have recruited and trained staff who have specialist housing law knowledge, while at the same time, our TAS Advisers also provide general support—including with furniture, fuel and food, income maximisation and referrals for mental health support.
After a successful first year with a homeless prevention rate of over 70%, TAS secured funding for three years from The Henry Smith Charity. We’re now halfway through the project and are proud to share an independent evaluation of the TAS service by the creative listener, Len Grant.
The booklet tells the story of the TAS, enabling our service users, referral partners, a landlord and staff to have their voices heard in a unique format. The feedback has highlighted lots of positives, including our high homeless prevention rate and the significant financial gains achieved for service users. It also shines a spotlight on the mental health impact of the threat of homelessness, as well as the remarkable resilience of our TAS service users.
You can read the evaluation here: www.thebondboard.org.uk.
If you would like more information about The Bond Board or to refer to the Tenants’ Advocacy Service (Rochdale), please email info@thebondboard.org.uk.
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