Housing Support

Having a stable home is critical. It helps people to remain healthy and provides a foundation from which to find and maintain employment, feel part of a community and experience self-worth. People who have experienced homelessness can often find moving into accommodation a very stressful experience. They can often feel anxious, distrustful of statutory organisations and fearful of change. Our specialist Housing Team provides expert advice and support to help homeless service to successfully navigate the search for housing and crucially, support them to sustain life away from the street.

Our Housing Support Services include:

  • Drop-in clinics for housing advice and support.
  • Partnership work with the Local Council and Housing Officers to ensure that Service Users’ housing needs and vulnerabilities are fully understood.
  • Support to help Service Users access Home-Link bidding and private rental accommodation applications.
  • Dealing with Council housing debt and brokering payment plans to enable service users to move forward.
  • Helping Service Users to set up bank accounts and to apply for appropriate identification documents.
  • Making applications to local organisations who can provide furnishing grants.
  • Supporting individuals when they move into a tenancy, equipping them with home furnishing packs.
  • Teaching life-skills such as cooking and budgeting to help Service Users feel confident and well-equipped to maintain a home.
  • Providing regular emotional support to ensure that Service Users do not feel isolated and at risk of returning to negative behaviour patterns.

Service User

Without Wintercomfort’s help I don’t think I’d have been able to find myself accommodation. It’s impossible to do that without help when you’re living on the streets. Now that I have a home, I can start to sort out the other aspects of my life and move towards a better future.