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As housing repossessions rise, local authorities across the country are facing increasing challenges dealing with the problems which emerge. Sarah Richards and Martin Wheatley look at how some councils are coping. Madjudjo Balde never expected to find himself homeless. But, after the 30-year-old Norwich resident was laid off from his job, joining the 4,000 Jobseekers' Allowance claimants in the city, he was told that his rented room was earmarked for demolition, and the prospect of ending up on the streets became a very real threat. A recession brings many unwelcome realities. Of these, losing your home ranks among the most serious. Repossessions across the country rose by 50% in the year to May 2009, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which says 65,000 repossessions could take place this year, with a further 360,000 mortgage-holders falling into arrears. Increasingly, housing need affects people who have never experienced such trauma before. Although housing need has grown rapidly in many areas across the country, councils dealing with very different local populations are having to innovate rapidly to stem the crisis. Norwich is one of 12 cities running the enhanced housing options scheme, an initiative launched by Communities and Local Government in 2008 to encourage housing teams to support vulnerable people by providing not just advice but links to training and employment. Mr Balde was one of the first people to be helped by the city's new learning, employment and accommodation project. The team helped him find accommodation and work experience, and in June, he found work in a book wholesaler's warehouse. He is also taking a computer course and says he is ‘a lot happier now'. Barry Allard, the housing and worklessness project officer at Norwich City Council, says his authority is ‘aiming to change the way the housing strategy works' in the city. He says: ‘It's really important that we can offer different types of support as well as housing advice. Councils should not only look at someone's accommodation, but their whole life situation and work issues. ‘If we arrange accommodation but they haven't got the skills to keep it, then we're not providing a long-term solution.' The affluent commuter town of Sevenoaks, Kent, was relatively unaccustomed to homelessness. Yet, with 15 of its breadwinners working in the City when the financial crisis struck, the recession has hit the town hard. With property prices in the town plummeting by 25%, selling or renting out property is difficult. The crisis has made private landlords who previously would not consider social housing tenants become more receptive. Sevenoaks DC is encouraging landlords to let through its private sector letting scheme. It lends prospective tenants money for a deposit, a damage-insurance bond and the first month's rent in advance, allowing them to enter the private rented sector. The scheme has been ‘exceptionally successful' at preventing homelessness, with 138 individuals given council loans in two years, according to Pat Smith, head of housing at the council. ‘Landlords have become more amenable to looking at affordable rent,' she says. ‘In the past, there was something of a stigma about putting social housing tenants into private sector properties, but that has gone.' While averting homelessness is a vital challenge, preventing families from ever joining the ranks of the vulnerably housed is an important challenge for councils. For many, it takes only the main earner to lose his or her job for monthly repayments to become impossible and debts to rise. Northampton BC is helping families to stay on the housing ladder through the national mortgage rescue scheme, launched by CLG in late 2008 to protect families at risk of repossession. While take-up has been poor in some areas, thanks to an aggressive publicity drive, Northampton was able to help 100 recession-hit households within six months of the scheme being launched. Families have the option to reduce their mortgage payments through shared equity or to sell their house to a registered social landlord and remain in their home as a tenant, paying affordable rates of rent. Sadly, housing needs are often not the end of the story for vulnerable individuals. Northampton's mortgage rescue scheme links into other crucial services – help for those fleeing domestic violence (a problem exacerbated by recession), those with drug or alcohol addiction, mental health problems or a history of offending. Cllr Sally Beardsworth, the portfolio holder for housing at Northampton, says the local authority is continuing to explore solutions. ‘We are always looking for new and innovative ways to help people in real need,' she says. Sarah Richards is IDeA's national adviser for places and prosperity, and Martin Wheatley is an LGA programme director

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Sheltering from the storm

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