A housing association has been appointed to run six Hereford properties bought to house those who would otherwise have to sleep rough.
Stonewater Housing Association has been named by Herefordshire Council as its housing management provider for its newly acquired Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme properties in the city.
The council has already bought three of the properties at a cost of £469,000 including refurbishment, and has now approved the purchase of the remaining three, with the cost of each capped at £176,400.
It says the properties, whose addresses it has not revealed, will serve as “transitional housing to accommodate people who have long and repeated history of rough sleeping”.
But it adds: “We are not in the position to provide the housing management function, therefore this needs to be outsourced.”
The council is therefore taking out a 10-year lease with Stonewater, which will sublet the properties to individuals nominated buy the council, and will be responsible for maintaining them.
The Leicestershire-based housing association already manages about 34,500 homes across England and has over 800 employees.
A grant of £423,360 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities covers two-fifths of the £1,058,400 maximum cost of the six properties. This funding also includes a grant of £65,200 for a dedicated support worker for 23 months.
Government health funding through the Better Care Fund provides a further £250,000 towards the cost of the six.
The council’s original decision back in December to accept the Government funding was justified by what it said was “a shortage of transitional accommodation for homeless people within Hereford”.
This meant it had to house them in bed-and-breakfasts and hotels, on which housing benefits cannot be claimed.
At the time the council was housing 49 homeless people “in emergency B&B, hotel and other forms of temporary accommodation until long-term accommodation can be provided”.
It added that the option of the six new properties “will focus on people with the highest levels of need and those who are unlikely to be housed by registered providers due to unresolved issues of anti-social behaviour, rent arrears etc.”
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