In May 2021 SIS was awarded £10,000 by Sussex Community Foundation to provide additional bilingual casework support for housing related issues.
SIS delivered 18 Bilingual Social Prescribing and Advocacy cases to support Service Users (SU) to receive housing information, advice and guidance then access Housing and Homelessness services at Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC).
This grant funded casework supplemented our existing projects “Social Prescribing Plus” and “Sussex Advocacy Project” (funded by BHCC and B&H CCG) for which there is inadequate resources to meet the needs presented particularly in relation to housing.
All of the SUs wanted to move to a new home. Approximately half because they were already homeless or at risk of homelessness and half because they were living in unsuitable accommodation. Some SUs had already applied to the Council through HomeMove and were supported to raise concerns about the process, their unequal, discriminatory treatment or to appeal the current banding decision and ask for a review.
All the SUs needed extensive help to source and understand information about their rights and the processes and procedures regards housing so that they could make informed decisions about what to do. All SUs then required further help with their correspondence and communication and facilitate access to the on-line only services at BHCC.
This was difficult work and it was challenging to achieve the outcomes sought by the Service Users. Most people made some forward progress with 4 people securing alternative accommodation. 3 service users were successfully in their appeals to be given a higher priority level but they, along with 9 others, are still waiting to hear further from BHCC about their application.
For a full report including information on the impact please see https://sussexinterpreting.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/SIS-Evaluation-of-SCF-funded-Housing-Advocacy-Project-1.pdf
