London housing associations pledge to tackle homelessness

A pledge to tackle homelessness in London is being launched today by the g15, a group of independent housing associations in London.

The g15's 'Offer to London' has been devised in support of the Government's target to reduce families in temporary accommodation by 50 per cent by 2010.

The group consists of 15 influential organisations, which between them house more than 700,000 Londoners.

Through the ‘Offer to London’ the g15 pledges to:
* Increase the proportion of its lettings nominations that are to homeless households from 27 per cent to 35 per cent over the next two years, and investigate areas where the proportion is lower than this in partnership with local authorities. This will equate to a further 2,729 homeless families housed each year.
* Remove barriers to moving households from temporary to settled accommodation, including minimising bureaucracy.
* Convert temporary housing to settled accommodation wherever possible, including by ensuring we are better informed about the needs of incoming households.
* Ensure we are helping residents to sustain their tenancies, such as by providing debt management services, and projects to develop skills and tackle worklessness.
* Establish local authority relationship managers in each borough to act as a link on the delivery of the Offer and ensure effective partnership working.

Tom Dacey, chair of the g15, said: "The g15 has worked with the London boroughs and other partners to tackle homelessness, but we believe that more can be done. We have to make sure we are balancing the need for housing transfers from existing tenants with the need to house homeless people.

“Our Offer to London will help us remain focused on engaging effectively with our partners to ensure that more households can reap the benefits of a settled home.

“We also hope this agenda of effective partnership working to tackle homelessness will be a core priority for the new Homes and Communities Agency."

Latest figures shows that in London 13,800 families are 'priority need' homeless and a further 53,870 are in temporary accommodation. While these figures have fallen steadily in recent years, the economic downturn threatens an increase in homelessness.

The scheme which will be launched at the Chartered Institute for Housing's annual Lettings and Homelessness Conference, comes just weeks after the FSA announced that home repossessions are up 71 per cent in one year.

The scheme