Hosting Service
Many young people leave their family home to stay with friends, but eventually outstay their welcome and become homeless. Other men and women can become part of the large number of hidden homeless in our society as a result of broken relationships etc. Some may be asylum seekers. Our Hosting Service tries to intervene before they become rough sleepers by linking them to hosts who have a spare room. Usually, this will be paid for by their housing benefit or their employment at a rate of just over £100 per week. Our role is to select suitable tenants for our hosts and provide support throughout the tenancy.
Hosts
People from all walks of life become Bromley Homeless hosts. Hosts play a critical role, welcoming our clients into their home as guests. Guests will be expected to take on household chores and do things for themselves, including buying their food, cooking their own meals and doing their own washing, with occasional guidance from a host. Bromley Homeless offers each and every host the necessary training, support and guidance on how to do this. We have a waiting list of clients ready to be housed.
If you feel you can help to accommodate a single person who has been caught up in hidden homelessness please get in touch. Your interest and the conversations that follow could make a real difference to that person’s life and you will be helping to end homelessness in and around Bromley.
Your Guest
We will only propose a client to be your guest after a prolonged vetting process. They will be 18 or older. For our clients, being placed in a safe and caring environment like your spare room enables them to rebuild confidence and self-esteem, with the close connection and support of a dedicated Bromley Homeless support worker and yourself, as a host. This stability empowers clients to focus on sustaining or returning to education or looking for work.
Some clients stay for a few months and others for a year or two, but the relationship between client and host becomes a positively lived and trusted aspect of their experience. Existing hosts tell us how rewarding it is to know they have played a part in restoring a person’s hope in life by offering a safe place to call home. Bromley Homeless takes care in helping each potential host assess their future tenant’s suitability and we take every care when matching them to a client by carrying out an assessment which can take up to 8 weeks.
Support during tenancy
Throughout the tenancy, we will provide support for both the host and our clients. When issues arise, we will be there to listen and advise. We expect our clients, your tenants, to meet with us regularly to help them understand their responsibilities as tenants and deal with any issues before they become serious.
Financial
The rent will usually be paid from Universal Credit or income from employment. The amount varies depending on the circumstances, but can be expected to be at least £100 per week. However, there are other factors to be taken into account which are answered in the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ document.
In some cases, our hosts do not wish to receive payment and wish to help those people, such as asylum seekers, who are not entitled to benefits. If this applies to you, please read more information here.
Thinking of becoming a Host?
Please read our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’. We will arrange to meet you to discuss all the details and find the guest that is best suited to your situation and need. We will then arrange meetings between you and the potential guest to see if you both think that you are suited.
Please contact us if you have a spare room and would like more information.