New service to prevent homelessness is launched by Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council is launching a new service to prevent vulnerable people in the county from becoming homeless.
Buckinghamshire Community Housing Support Service will provide support to people who are at risk of losing their home because they’re struggling to manage independently – the aim is to reach these people before they reach a point of crisis and become homeless. They will then be supported for up to six months to reach a stage where they can resolve their housing situation and manage on their own again.
The newly remodelled service is being provided by the social inclusion charity P3, who’ve been delivering support services since 1972. Their staff have extensive experience in helping people from diverse backgrounds and they know how best to support people from hard to reach communities and people with long-term physical and mental health conditions.
The new service is designed to be both flexible and responsive, meeting people where they are most comfortable; in their own home, over the phone, in community-based group sessions, or even digitally via apps like Skype and WhatsApp. P3 will also make contact with the community through a new mobile advice vehicle that will travel into both urban and rural town centres and communities.
Lin Hazell, Buckinghamshire County Council Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said:
“We will provide completely bespoke, individualised support for people through this new service so we can directly address and hopefully solve the reasons why someone is struggling to maintain their home. By providing this high level of support we can then help people to get back on their feet and stay in their own home. P3 come with a great track record of providing this type of service in various other parts of the UK and we look forward to working with them to help these vulnerable residents in our county.”
Mark Simms, Chief Executive of P3, stated:
“We’re delighted to be able to deliver this new service in Buckinghamshire. P3 is an organisation that allows people to access the help that is right for them – to provide stability and ultimately to enable people to continue living within the security of their own homes.
“People reach crisis point within their lives for a multitude of reasons; money management problems, addiction, debt, health reasons, or many other things. Our approach is to not offer a one-size fits all service, but to see each client as an individual and offer bespoke, tailored support to enable them to overcome their own personal barriers.”