THE HOUSING team for a council have been promoting their scheme for helping with homelessness.

Hart District Council’s (HDC) housing team have been working with local lettings agents and private landlords to promote their own early intervention scheme and raise awareness of their services.

Staff from the housing team have been meeting local lettings agents in a bid to promote their early intervention scheme to reduce and prevent homelessness within the district.

Lettings agents can now work with the council to highlight any tenants that may be struggling to pay their rent.

Either the agent or tenant can contact the housing team to discuss any changes in circumstances, such as a job loss, which could affect them paying their rent.

The council can intervene and sustain tenancies for a short period to protect their housing and still provide an income for the landlord.

Cllr Stuart Bailey, cabinet member for community at HDC, said: “Residents of Hart will benefit from this scheme as we are keeping them in their current accommodation and preventing them going into temporary accommodation.

"Our aim in the housing service is to sustain and prevent homelessness, so overall the more information and support that is available, the more awareness is created, and homelessness will reduce within Hart.”

Alongside the early intervention scheme, the housing team held two landlord forum training courses in May to assist and educate private landlords, giving them the right tools to serve a valid Section 21 notice.

This training was delivered to prevent private tenants from being wrongly evicted from their homes.

For more information, visit: hart.gov.uk/housing-advice.