With the right support everybody can succeed in their tenancy

Originally, the course was focused on helping our members into the private rented sector. However in the past few years we have also had significant interest in the course from housing associations.

In our Moving On report, published last year, we identified many barriers faced by single homeless people in accessing a permanent home.

“We feel that tenancy training is a more constructive approach to mitigating against fears of a tenancy failing, rather than applying restrictive criteria.”

The use of allocations and affordability criteria by housing associations can prevent homeless people from moving out of homelessness.

We do recognise that these criteria are put in place to mitigate against perceived risk of rental loss and damages. However, we feel that tenancy training is a more constructive approach to mitigating against fears of a tenancy failing, rather than applying restrictive criteria which place some people outside of the allocations system.

We want to show this how this works in practice through our partnership with the Homes for Cathy group.

We will be running a pilot with Accent Housing, the Hope Hub (a local homelessness day centre) and Surrey Heath Borough Council to deliver Renting Ready to people currently excluded from the local housing register.

Anyone who completes the course will be reinstated to the register and we aim to use the findings from the work to encourage other councils and associations to adopt more constructive approaches.

At our Skylight Centre in South Yorkshire, where Hazel is a member, 89% of our members entering housing are still succeeding in their tenancy after six months.

With the support of Renting Ready and our housing coaches, members are more aware of their rights and, crucially, their responsibilities as tenants.

They are much better placed not only to sustain their tenancy but to use it as a platform to rebuild and improve other aspects of their lives.

“Many younger people moving out of homelessness have never lived on their own and are vulnerable to feeling isolated and out of their depth.”

Renting Ready also covers very practical steps including budgeting, not getting ripped off when kitting out your home, and keeping on top of maintenance and cleaning. We also cover living with others, which has greatly helped make shared housing projects in both the private rented sector and social sector work for landlords and tenants.

Many younger people moving out of homelessness have never lived on their own and are vulnerable to feeling isolated and out of their depth. This can the lead to people returning to negative situations and networks which originally led to their homelessness in the first place and can then trigger rent arrears and abandonments.

Hazel’s experience of Renting Ready echoes a lot of our members’ experiences, and she talks about the opportunity Renting Ready presented to get a place of her own and feel safe.

She also talks about how the commitment required in attending the course helped her commit to other things in her life.

She knows now her obligations as a tenant, how to manage a leak in the house or deal safely with neighbour nuisance.

We know that with the right support every homeless person can succeed in their tenancy, but with Renting Ready we can help prove that fact to their landlord – and most importantly to them.

Chris Hancock, head of housing, Crisis