Torbay Council 'urge landlords to speak to us before evicting tenants'
The council say a range of support is available for both landlords and tenants
Last updated 31st Jan 2024
With another cold snap predicted for next week, Torbay Council says it is looking at how it signposts the homeless during severe weather - and trying to stop people evicted and put on the streets in the first place.
The authority's spoken to us after we heard from a man in his 50s who slept outside during the recent freezing temperatures and storms - saying it was 'very hard, I'm waking up to frost around me and I'm thinking I'm not actually going to make it through the night'.
He couldn't access the emergency accommodation on offer, saying: "I spoke to a person from the rough sleeping team and she told me there was a place in Paignton that I could go, but I had to walk there.
"I've got bad knees and I've only got one set of clothes (as there was a heavy storm at the time) and I just thought I can't go."
In response, Councillor Hayley Tranter, the Cabinet Member for Community Services and Public Health, said: "We know there's certain groups. small numbers of people that aren't accessing the emergency accommodation in severe weather - we need to look at that."
Kath Friedrich, who founded PATH or People Assisting Torbay's Homeless, says she wants to see more emergency accommodation provided in the area.
She said: "What we're seeing this Winter is that there's so many more homeless than are actually being recorded and those guys are still out there in these temperatures - when everybody's thinking about turning their heating up -living in their tents or living out in doorways."
Earlier this month Torbay Council said39 people were offered a shelter during the recent cold weather - adding it was 'a higher than usual number for Torbay' and issued this advice for anyone seen sleeping rough
The council added that in the long-term they were 'working on a number of initiatives to house homeless people after receiving £1.9million under the Rough Sleeping Initiative'.
Councillor Tranter is urging landlords not to evict tenants without going to them first to see what help can be offered - saying they want to reduce the numbers needing support in places like hotels.
She said: "Especially families with children going to school, children trying to do homework - how do they prepare a meal and how do parents go to work and do a full day's work the next day when everybody's living in one room."
The council says it wants to 'remind landlords of the Tenancy Matching Scheme which helps to match "tenancy ready" clients with local landlords and looks at suitability based on things like suitability and affordability of the property'.
Councillor Tranter added: “Over the past few weeks we have seen a bit of a spike in tenants becoming homeless and needing temporary accommodation, and we obviously want to avoid this happening wherever possible.
“Our main message here is that prevention is better than cure – save the tenancy, don’t serve notice. So whether you are a tenant at risk of being served notice or a landlord experiencing issues our housing officers are here to help.
“Our tenancy matching scheme also offers support for landlords including finding suitable tenants for your property, deposit and rent in advance to minimise delays in letting your property, ongoing support for you as long as the tenant lives at the property, and a review of each tenancy at the end of the first six months.”
She says the council can offer a range of support to both tenants and landlords, with a full list of the services available here