Southwark and Lambeth: Helping young residents STAY in their homes

A brand new project to help make sure young residents don’t lose their homes will be launched this week.

STAY (Sustaining Tenancies Among the Young) has been developed by L&Q and will be delivered by Metropolitan Support Trust (MST) with the aim of helping young people in Lambeth and Southwark during the first six months of their tenancy.

A quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds abandon their home or end up losing their tenancy in the first year because they don’t pay the rent, don’t understand their rights and responsibilities as a tenant, or simply don’t have the necessary life skills to be able to manage their own home.

The L&Q-funded service will help them claim appropriate benefits, help with life skills and signpost them towards other agencies and services that can provide support.

Sonia Bernard, Assistant Director, L&Q, said: “It is clear that our younger residents find it harder to settle in their new homes, and this is evident through a disproportionate number of them losing their home in the first year.

“We want to try and provide the right support early on so they start off their tenancy in the correct way and, ultimately, keep their home.”

She added: “A service-commissioning arrangement like this is unusual, but L&Q remains committed to working with our vulnerable residents, whether they are living in general needs accommodation or specialist housing.”

Duncan Wilson, Area Business Manager, MST, said: “This is a very exciting project and we are very much looking forward to working in partnership with L&Q to deliver a support service that has the potential to help this very vulnerable client group.

“Young people are core to the business of MST and we will be working with L&Q to ensure the best outcomes for some of their young residents.”

The project will initially run for year starting on October 17th. Young residents will be referred to the service on sign-up, and we aim to make this a natural part of the lettings process for these residents.