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Charities and council set up social impact bond for single homeless people

Homelessness charities and a north-west London council have teamed up to launch a social impact bond to tackle homelessness for single people.

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Charities and council set up social impact bond for single homeless people

Brent Council is working with Crisis and Thames Reach alongside social investor Bridges to create a homelessness prevention service with £900,000 of government funding. The scheme will also help couples without dependent children.

The Homelessness Reduction Act places a new duty on councils to prevent homelessness among single people, who were previously not prioritised for help. The act is expected to become law from April next year.

Homeless people using the service will be helped to put together a personal housing plan, helped to undertake mediation with family or friends in an attempt to save their tenancy, offered advice on financial management, and supported to move into accommodation.

The service is being set up as a social impact bond, a type of agreement in which investors pay for a set of interventions to improve a social outcome. Brent Council will only pay if the service achieves successful outcomes for single homeless people, with Bridges taking the financial risk of success rather than council tax payers.

The scheme is expected to help around 1,600 residents out of homelessness.

Harbi Farah, lead member for housing and welfare reform at Brent Council, said: “Until now we’ve not been able to give enough help to most single people facing the prospect of homelessness.

“Now, we have the tools we need to get involved earlier and to work with people for longer. At long last, we have a real chance to protect more people from the trauma of losing their homes.”

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