Blaby District Council: Housing Enablement Team
What is the project?
The Housing Enablement Team (HET) places specialist housing professionals into in-patient settings, with the goal of assisting patients with housing issues, so that they can be safely discharged.
Dedicated housing officers based within the acute, community and mental health hospitals offer a bedside service that works inside and outside statutory duties and support flow.
HET covers a wide variety of housing issues such as homelessness, hoarding and eviction.
HET fulfils the requirement for hospitals to complete S.213B referrals for homeless cases brought in by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Ensures that clinical staff do not have to do this. This service operates across Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland. Dedicated housing officers are based in all the hospitals across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and will assist patients where housing is a barrier to discharge.
All health staff are aware of the service, and it is a key part of the discharge hub and the Home First Collaborative. Cases are referred to the team as soon as health staff become aware that there is a housing issue. For example East Midlands Ambulance Service may go to pick up a patient from a hoarded property to take them to hospital they would inform the HET so that work can be undertaken as soon as possible to clean & clear the property thus reducing any chance of a delay in discharge.
Alongside the staffing budget we hold funding to not only cover the cost of clean & clears but also to cover rent deposits and purchase household items or ensure they have some utilities on when they return home.
What benefits will it deliver?
This project has not only supported the NHS, it supports local authority housing teams across Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland and ensures the patient can return home as soon as they are medically fit to do so. It also supports TB patients and those with no recourse to public funds.
