Pre-referral information

Who is suitable for the Clearing House?

The Clearing House is an excellent opportunity to move on service users who no longer require hostel or other temporary accommodation but do require some on-going support. It is equally suitable for service users who will require support for a much longer period of time. As well as this the Clearing House can take referrals for service users who are currently sleeping rough if they can demonstrate they are able to maintain a tenancy with the support provided.

You should not refer clients who do not have any support needs at all or clients with such high support needs that their tenancy is likely to fail.

What does an appropriate referral look like?

The Clearing House is a good option for a wide range of people, providing they need some support to maintain a tenancy. Appropriate referrals could include:

• People who require support for the rest of their life
• People who require some support for a short period of time
• People with drug or alcohol issues, but who are able to sustain a tenancy with some support
• People with mental health issues
• Couples (please speak to the Clearing House for clarity about this)
• People referred directly from the streets
• People with non-‘traditional’ support needs (drug, alcohol and mental health) who have other demonstrable needs relating to maintaining a tenancy.
• People who may not have worked for a while, and would like to access support around this, before they live completely independently

This list may look long, but this is because the needs of the people who are suitable to be referred to the Clearing House vary greatly. The common factors are as follows.

Referrals need to:

• Be verified rough sleepers recorded on the CHAIN system
• Require some support to maintain a tenancy – TST support is similar to floating support in terms of frequency of visits
• Be willing to engage with the support
• Understand that they will be given a tenancy for as long as they require support and helped to move on when they don’t

Frequently Asked Questions

Clearing House induction sessions

We are currently holding monthly induction sessions at Half Moon Court, EC1. These sessions are a good way for potential referrers to find out about Clearing House and our referrals process. We will also give an overview of what support clients can expect from Tenancy Sustainment Teams (TSTs).

The next session will be held in February 2010 (date tbc) and they are generally held every month. If you would like to book a place and be notified about dates, please email us: ch@broadwaylondon.org.

TST information session

In response to feedback from referrers, we will be removing the requirement for clients to attend a TST information session. However, referral workers will be expected to explain the changes fully with their clients (This is effective immediately).

The attached presentation is a tool to help referrer explain Clearing House. It provides information about Clearing House, the types of property available, our eligibility criteria, the role of Tenancy Sustainment Teams and other useful information.

If you want to go through the session with clients, please make sure that you also print off the notes under each slide.

You can do this via the following route: Open the Powerpoint presentation. Go to File, then Print. A box will appear. Towards the bottom of the box on the left is a "print what" option. On the drop-down menu, select "print notes".

Once you have delivered a downloadable information session, please ensure that you e-mail CH@broadwaylondon.org to confirm the name of the client and the date the session was delivered. If you do not inform us that a client has received an information session, it may delay their referral decision.

TST Patch List

If your project would like a TST to come and explain what your clients can expect once they have been referred to the Clearing House list please contact the relevant person on this list.