In an effort to prevent homelessness landlords from across the BCP area are being encouraged to sign up to the Council’s new Help to Let support and incentive scheme.
BCP Council received £480,000 from the government to fund the initiative which aims to help landlords with fewer than 30 properties to provide affordable rented accommodation to people at risk of become homeless.
Landlords receive up to £2,000 up-front, rent and deposit in advance as well as support, in return for providing affordable housing.
In addition to the financial benefits, the scheme aims to help the social letting agency Homes 4 Let acquire more properties that they can fully manage on behalf of landlords, and also give one-to-one support to people placed into one of the new tenancies by the Council.
Due to the lack of social housing in the area BCP Council has earmarked this as a way of creating roughly 150 new tenancies and supporting a further 130 local households by March 2020 – in the hope that this will reduce the number of people living in temporary or B&B style accommodation.
Councillor Kieron Wilson, Cabinet Member for Housing, BCP Council, said: “This is a fantastic and much needed initiative.
“I would urge local landlords to consider signing up to this scheme which will not only mean receiving an incentive payment but also on-going support from the council who will be offering 1-2-1 support to tenants to maintain their tenancy.
“The more landlords we can support and enable to offer affordable tenancies, the fewer residents we will see facing homelessness and having to live in emergency and temporary accommodation.”
If you would like more information on the scheme call 01202 633487, email or visit the website.