The Bridge Bond Scheme The Bridge Bond Scheme exists to help Clients who come to the Bridge into private rented accommodation. The scheme operates under the City Council “Homestart “ Initiative. Under this initiative, Housing Benefit is paid directly to the Landlord, in order to do this the Council require documentary evidence that the Client should not be paid their own housing benefit. This evidence needs to be in the form of a letter from a worker of some kind. A typical scenario is where a client has a substance dependency. In that case a key worker will write a letter outlining the reasons why Housing benefit should be paid directly to the Landlord. A full list of criteria is available on request. Simply having nowhere to live is not sufficient to enable someone to be accepted on to the scheme, however, if a person is not eligible, (perhaps because they are working or have no other “issues”) the Support Staff can still give assistance and advice, for example on how to obtain money for a bond. The process is as follows: - First Interview. This is by appointment and consists of an assessment of the client dealing with many different lifestyle factors of which homelessness (or unsuitable accommodation) is only one. This enables the Support Worker and the Client to get to know one another and will help decide whether the client is eligible to come on the scheme.
- Second Interview. This will normally take place a week after the first interview and consists mainly of filling in an application form and a risk assessment. At this interview the question of a letter from a worker to confirm the need for direct payment of housing benefit to the landlord will be further investigated.
- Third Interview. This will normally take place a week after the second interview. At this appointment the Support worker will introduce the Client to the Support package offered by the Scheme as well as discussing any progress made.
Following the third interview further appointments will be made to assess progress. There is a £30 key deposit/administration fee, which is paid to the landlord when a property has been obtained for the Client. The Client is liable for this and no serious searching for a property will take place until this has been paid. Once a property has been found and always assuming the Client accepts it, then a visit to the Housing Benefit with a support worker will be arranged as well as a visit to arrange a loan for the Bond (“deposit”). When the time comes to move in to a property the support workers will help in any way they can. Because the Bond Scheme works with private Landlords, finding suitable accommodation can take several weeks, “quck fix” solutions are not possible. |