Scottish Government

SMARTMOVEFALKIRK

FALKIRK, EDINBURGH & WEST LOTHIAN

CYRENIANS

April 2008 in Falkirk (several years prior to this in Edinburgh & West Lothian)

On-going.

• Assisting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to access and retain private rented sector accommodation.

• When landlords sign up to SmartMove they provide details of properties available. The project matches the properties to their tenant clients and arranges for suitable clients to contact the landlord and view the property. More than one prospective tenant may be sent to view the property (to reduce delay/void time for the landlord as the tenant might not like the property/might not get their references organised etc);
• If the tenant wants to go ahead, the project carries out a full assessment of the tenant (housing needs/finances/support needs - project does not provide support but can signpost to support services) and checks references;
• In some instances the tenant has sourced a property themselves and asked the landlord to contact Smart Move;
• The tenant is encouraged and assisted to save over the first 6 months, with a view to paying 50% of the deposit in cash for the second six months and meeting the full deposit if the tenancy is to continue past 12 months

• Initial tenancy is a 6 month Short Assured Tenancy. Smart Move works with the tenant over 12 months;
• Smart Move's experience in all its projects is that if a landlord has been happy with the tenant's rent payment history over the 12 months, and there have been no problems with behaviour/damage, then they are happy to continue the tenancy even if the tenant can't quite meet 100% of the deposit (the guarantee ceases after 12 months).

• Accessing a private rented tenancy is an option for the applicant. There is no compulsion to accept such a tenancy but once having done so the applicant will no longer be considered homeless;
• Some clients will be non-priority households and thus in the past this was not an issue.

• By the end of September 2008, the scheme had recruited 30 landlords

• The team is small. They carry out interviews etc in Falkirk 3 days per week. There is one manager for all 3 services.

• Funded by the local council.

• Landlords have been 'recruited' through council publicity and the Cyrenians have attended three landlord fora in Falkirk since April 2008. The Private Rented Sector Team in the Council have been very helpful in advertising the service. Once initial contact has been made, many landlords approach the service by 'word of mouth' from other landlords. This has also been the experience in Edinburgh and West Lothian.

• Security of deposit/bond;
• Some ongoing contact by Smart Move with tenant which may help avoid tenant getting into difficulty;
• No advertising costs in securing a tenant;
• Some help given with housing benefit claims.

• Opportunity to rent a private sector property;
• Assistance with saving for future deposits and to sustain a tenancy. Smart Move works with the tenant for 12 months.

• Reduces spend on temporary accommodation;
• Provides another option for homeless and potentially homeless households.

• Issues with Housing Benefit: pp.62-63
• Tenant References: p.65
• Support to Tenants: p.68