Newcastle’s work to prevent homelessness is receiving national recognition for its emphasis on early intervention, cooperation and support organised around the individual.
Through Active Inclusion Newcastle, the council works with housing providers, welfare advisers, health services and voluntary organisations to identify residents at risk and provide help before they lose their homes.
We have also maintained an offer of accommodation to Newcastle residents presenting as homeless. This reflects our belief that nobody seeking help should simply be left without somewhere safe to stay.
Our Labour-led council has developed this approach while government welfare reforms, rising household costs and continued cuts to local authority funding have placed increasing numbers of residents under pressure.
Homelessness is rarely caused by a single isolated event. A reduction in income, benefit delays, debt, poor health or a family breakdown can combine to make someone’s housing insecure. Services must therefore consider the resident’s wider circumstances rather than dealing only with the most immediate problem.
Labour councillors support this work through their ward surgeries and casework, helping residents reach the right services and identifying recurring difficulties within local communities.
Early assistance can prevent a missed payment or benefit problem from escalating into rent arrears, eviction and homelessness. It produces better outcomes for residents while reducing the wider human and financial costs associated with a crisis.
National recognition is welcome, but our priority remains improving the support available in Newcastle. We will continue learning from individual cases, strengthening cooperation between organisations and challenging government policies that increase insecurity.
Labour Deputy Leader Cllr Joyce McCarty said:
“A Labour council should be judged by how it supports people when they face the greatest pressure. By intervening early and bringing local organisations together, we are helping residents keep their homes and maintaining an offer of accommodation when homelessness cannot be prevented.”