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The Clearing House Policy and Procedure GuideThe Clearing House now operates a one offer policy. Clients will receive one reasonable offer, if this offer is turned down for an unjustified reason the client will be removed from the waiting list. 01/04/2006
Procedure for Registered Social Landlords/Managing Agents Procedure for Referral Agencies If you would like a hard copy of the Clearing House policy and procedure guide, you can download a copy.
The Clearing House provides and co-ordinates the lettings service for all the permanent accommodation provided by housing associations under the Government’s Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI). Our task is to match homeless people, who meet the RSI criteria, to suitable accommodation. By the 1st January 2004 , the Initiative had created a pool of around 3,950 one bed and studio flats, bedsits and rooms for clients eligible under the RSI referral criteria. Approximately 70 housing associations have been involved in developing the housing for rough sleepers. Over 30 charities refer homeless people to the Clearing House for housing. The majority of the referrals now come from London’s Outreach Teams (CAT, SST, SOS, SRS etc), which have been set up to work with clients on the streets in different areas of London and to try to find acceptable solutions for them. You can download a list of the participating organisations.
The Clearing House manages and maintains an RSI housing waiting list. It seeks sufficient numbers of referrals for this list from the participating agencies in order to ensure that the list is always balanced and that we can fill vacant units promptly. We collect comprehensive information on clients at the point of referral, including their demographics, housing history, last settled base, rough sleeping details, the type of housing they need, their support needs, the boroughs in which they want to live etc. This information is used both for effectively allocating properties to clients, providing a good basis upon which housing providers and TSTs can base their assessments and for monitoring purposes. We keep records of all RSI units in management and those in development, along with details of all RSI tenants and tenancies. We are informed by housing providers when a vacancy occurs within RSI and match the details of the vacancies with appropriate clients on the waiting list, rather like a dating agency! We then send the clients details to the housing provider who is then responsible for interviewing them and making the necessary tenancy arrangements. If we are unable to allocate a client from our Waiting List to any of the voids which we are notified of, we send a list of these voids to the Outreach Teams and other approved agencies at the end of each week.
The Clearing House is at the heart of a network of partnerships which exist to enable the Rough Sleepers Initiative to work effectively. The Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate which is part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), provides the funding for the Initiative, sets policy objectives and targets, and also monitors and evaluates the outcomes. The Housing Corporation distributes development funding to RSLs, provides the Clearing House with regular development forecasts, monitors the quality of developments and services provided by associations, and intervenes if lettings have been made outside of the Clearing House . Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) develop and manage the RSI housing. They inform the Clearing House of any vacancies and also provide us with details of why and when individual tenancies have ended. Once they have received a nomination from the Clearing House, they interview the client who will, hopefully, then become their tenant. They will then manage the tenancy in the usual way. Outreach Teams and hostel resettlement teams work directly with the rough sleepers in order to resettle them. They assess their client’s support and resettlement needs and make appropriate referrals to the Clearing House . TSTs work with the tenants living in RSI funded accommodation. They provide support and advice to the tenants with the aim of assisting tenants to live independently away from their previous street lives and to maintain their tenancies successfully. Homeless Link are an umbrella organisation whose membership includes many of the voluntary sector agencies participating in RSI. They work alongside the agencies and have a co-ordinating role disseminating good practice etc. They attend the liaison meetings between the Clearing House and its RSI partners.
Where feasible and appropriate and where our involvement is requested, the Clearing House will act to try and resolve disputes between two RSI participating organisations. We will investigate complaint(s) made by one organisation against another and act as an intermediary, to try and ensure the smooth running of all aspects of the Initiative. The Clearing House strives for excellence in service provision through a programme of continuous improvement and regularly seek feedback from our partners.
There a number of small forums/meetings that the Clearing House has set up or attend and play a major role, these are listed below: The Housing Provider/TST Forum: This is where the largest providers of RSI accommodation and the TSTs meet to discuss relevant issues. One to one liaison meetings: These meetings are with RSI referring agencies, TSTs and individual housing providers, where feedback is given on our service and relevant issues are disucssed. The Clearing House frequently runs induction sessions on Clearing House policies, procedures and processes for new staff of participating organisations. If you wish to attend one of these sessions please contact us. The Clearing House produces quarterly statistics for all the RSI participating organisations covering a variety of areas; for example the number of referrals, nominations, housings, client demographics, void times, client waiting times, tenancy breakdowns etc. We also produce quarterly bulletins giving policy updates and other useful information.
Part of the Clearing House role is to ensure that, in the long term, housing which has been developed under the RSI remains available for rough sleepers. We carry out regular tenant audits to ensure units are not let to people other than the initiative's target group. Our regular reports to the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate on the needs and circumstances of the people using the initiative, provides an invaluable tool for policy makers in terms of identifying trends, problems and planning future provision targeted for this client group. We also meet regularly with the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate and the Housing Corporation to provide feedback and discuss issues relating to the RSI. In this way any difficulties can be identified and dealt with quickly. In addition, we monitor and evaluate our own performance to ensure that we continue to provide a high quality of service; key performance indicators include:
Targets in these areas are agreed in conjunction with our partners and the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate. You can find further details of The Clearing House's performance indicators.
Referrals of rough sleepers (or former rough sleepers) may be made to the Clearing House by the outreach teams and approved hostels in accordance with the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate referral criteria. To be eligible for housing under RSI, clients must either:
All referrals must be ‘non-priority homeless’, i.e. those whom the local authorities do not have a responsibility to house. Procedure For Registered Social Landlords/Managing Agents
It is important that you follow these procedures and provide us with timely information in order to minimise void periods. These procedures are intended to aid communication, not be a substitute for it. The better the information we get from you, the better the service we will be able to give. For example, if you have any additional information on a scheme or bedspace that would help us when allocating, but that doesn’t necessarily fit into the standard form, please phone us to talk about it.
The RSI Development Programme If you have schemes in development under the Rough Sleepers Initiative, it is important that keep the Clearing House informed of each scheme’s progress. You also need to inform the Clearing House of any changes or additions to the programme. The information which is vital to the Clearing House includes the following:
Scheme Enquiry Form Three Months Before Handover From three months prior to handover, you should keep the Clearing House informed fortnightly of progress or changes to the development programme as above. This will enable us to ensure that we have sufficient numbers of appropriate referrals prepared well in advance of the anticipated handover and will keep your void period to an absolute minimum. If the scheme is to be supported by the housing provider and not a TST, we will need detailed information on the support available and the types of clients that would be suitable for the scheme, e.g. those with drug and alcohol issues, to enable us to properly target the scheme. "Off The Shelf" Schemes Where a scheme is to be purchased "off the shelf" please let us know immediately the allocation is approved, and then provide updated information weekly until handover. Information about formally requesting clients from the Clearing House for new lets, see Notifying the Clearing House of Voids (below). For timescales see the New lets section.
The Allocation and Letting Process Notifying the Clearing House of Voids All RSI funded properties must be let via the Clearing House, so you are required to notify us of all voids (new lets and re-lets) by way of a completed lettings form. *When setting any lettings criteria, please try not to be restrictive unless absolutely necessarily. For example stating that the incoming tenant must be female (when the vast majority of rough sleepers are male) as this could severely reduce the pool of clients available and could lead to increased void times. Please also bear in mind that most rough sleepers have some support needs and always asking for clients with little or no support needs makes it far more difficult for the Clearing House to allocate. Whether the funding is allocated to a housing provider or a TST all RSI tenants should have access to support if they need it. Time scales
Please refer to our performance indicators which explain the service standards you can expect from the Clearing House. Referrals from the Clearing House Once we have received a completed Lettings Form the Clearing House will nominate a client to you by sending you a nomination letter which will include full details of the client, the relevant contact details, along with an acceptance/refusal form. At the same time, we will notify both the relevant referring agency and Tenancy Sustainment Team (where applicable) of the nomination, providing them with details of the property etc. In most cases, unless the property is in a less popular borough (e.g. in outer London ) or the lettings criteria is very specific and restrictive for the property, we will have a suitable client on our waiting list. A nomination will be made within three working days from the receipt of the Lettings Form. Where we do not have a suitable client on our Waiting List, we will advertise the vacancy on our weekly voids list which we send to all referring agencies participating in the initiative. It will also be advertised on our website. Unfortunately, shared properties are usually much less popular with the client group concerned, which means that we rarely have clients on our books waiting for this type of housing. As a result, these properties generally need to be advertised on our weekly voids list and therefore take longer to let. If move on is guaranteed from a shared property this often makes it easier to let. Arranging interviews Once you receive the nomination letter, you should contact the referring agency and Tenancy Sustainment Team worker (if there is one) to arrange an interview with the client. An agency worker will accompany the client to the interview. The interview should happen no more than 2 weeks after the nomination is received. RSL’s are expected to interview clients unless there is a justified reason. Please familiarise yourself with the policy on RSL’s interviewing RSI clients. Notifying referring agency of the outcome of interviews Once you have interviewed the client and made a decision, you must notify the referring agency of the outcome as soon as possible. Notifying the Clearing House of the outcome It is absolutely vital that you inform the Clearing House immediately you know the outcome of a nomination, by returning a completed acceptance/refusal form. Where the nomination has been unsuccessful, receipt of this form starts the process of sending you another nomination therefore minimising void levels. Where you have accepted a nomination, quick feedback cuts down on the time the Clearing House spends chasing outcomes, and enables us to concentrate our efforts on finding tenants for other properties.
Please note that where a client views a property on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, it may be reasonable to expect the tenancy to start on the following Monday. However, if the viewing happens on a Thursday or Friday the prospective tenant should reasonably expect the tenancy to start on the Monday week. Please familiarise yourself with our guidelines on assured shorthold tenancies. Service Level Agreements A handover protocol and a standard move in action plan has been agreed and endorsed by the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate. This sets out the roles and responsibilities of Pre-Tenancy Providers, TSTs and RSLs when a person is nominated for and takes up an RSI Tenancy. The protocol has been circulated to RSI partner organisations for signing by each agency. Please also see the PTP and TST service specification and protocol and the TST and housing provider (or RSL) service specification and service protocol. These agreements outline good practice around support services, sharing of information, user participation, casework and so on.
Transfers and Mutual Exchanges For full details, please read the Housing Corporations Transfer & Mutual Exchange policy and the guidelines. Access to an association’s non RSI funded stock Access to an association’s RSI properties Access to other association’s RSI properties Move on from shared housing Training Flats Mutual Exchanges View the latest Mutual Exchange List
Tenant Audits As part of the Clearing House’s monitoring role to ensure that all RSI housing continues to be used to accommodate rough sleepers, and that all lettings are carried out via the Clearing House, an RSI Tenant Audit is conducted annually. The Clearing House sends each RSI housing provider annual tenant audit forms detailing each scheme and its tenants. Housing providers must thoroughly check all the information provided for accuracy and return the completed Forms to the Clearing House by the date specified in the covering letter. Incorrect Tenant Audit Forms
Lettings made outside of the Clearing House If housing providers are found to be letting RSI properties outside of the Clearing House mechanism, the Clearing House is required to inform the Housing Corporation and the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate. The housing provider will have to provide an explanation to these bodies and will also be required to replace the bedspace.
Procedure for Referral Agencies The Clearing House Waiting Lists The Clearing House manages and maintains waiting lists for self contained and shared housing respectively. Whilst we can note a client’s interest in a particular scheme, we generally discourage clients from only waiting for a vacancy at their named scheme as this could mean a very long wait. The exception to this rule is for certain specialist schemes (see below). A date order system is in operation for our waiting lists. The majority of housing developed under RSI is self contained. Predicting the number of bedspaces that will become available in a particular period, is not a precise science, especially in the case of relets. Recruitment of clients to the waiting lists Self Contained Waiting List In order to ensure that a balanced list is maintained at all times, the Clearing House sets a quota for Outreach Teams and named Resettlement teams once a quarter. A maximum number of referrals will be allowed and referrers will usually be asked to specify a ‘quota’ borough for their clients. For example, if an Outreach Team is given 4 quota places for Hackney, 4 of the clients they refer must choose Hackney as one of their boroughs and it will be recorded as the quota borough. Clients will not be able to remove a ‘quota’ borough, once chosen, without authorisation from the Clearing House Team Leader. Aside from the quota borough, the client must choose a minimum of one additional borough (see Completing Client Application Forms section). The two nomination policy applies to the Self Contained Waiting List. Specialist Scheme Waiting Lists Certain schemes which provide specialist or extra support operate separate waiting lists and can be referred to through the Clearing House outside of a Referral Agency’s normal quota. Clients must however be verified rough sleepers with a CHAIN number. Details of these schemes are posted on the Clearing House Website. For these schemes, clients are interviewed by the scheme prior to a vacancy becoming available. If accepted a client is then placed on a short waiting list for forthcoming vacancies at that specific scheme. Clients cannot be on a specialist scheme waiting list and the main self contained waiting list at the same time. Please see specialist scheme waiting list procedure for a fuller explanation of the referral procedure for these schemes. Assessing clients for housing under RSI Referring agencies are expected to carry out a full and thorough assessment of the client’s suitability and their needs prior to referral to the Clearing House. Clients must be able to live independently as very few schemes have staff on site or offer a high degree of support or care. It is also the agency’s role to advise clients on their options and also on how the Clearing House process works.
Each referral must be made on a Clearing House Client Application Form . This can be completed online by approved agencies and submitted to the Clearing House via the internet or by using a paper form, see section below for further details:
Borough choices When selecting boroughs, the agency should advise the client on the benefits or drawbacks of certain boroughs for that individual and the variety of areas within each borough. You should also give the client guidance on the availability of properties and different waiting times for various boroughs, so that they can make informed choices. For information on the distribution of properties in London by borough, please refer to the borough map of London. Clients should be actively discouraged from choosing every or most London boroughs, as this is not usually the basis for successful resettlement. Agencies should note that a client can be offered accommodation in any part of a borough, unless there is a genuine reason why they shouldn’t be and this has been clearly stated in the relevant section of the application form. You can view further information on property distribution by postal area within each borough.
New Scheme Information The Clearing House will send referring agencies quarterly information on RSI property developments with the Advisory Group papers. The following information is given:
Voids List Any property for which we do not have a suitable client on our Waiting List will appear on the Voids List. We send this to all approved agencies at the end of each week. The Voids List gives the following information:
View the latest Voids List
If you wish to refer a client to a particular property on the Voids List, please phone us first to check that it is still available. We accept calls for voids list reservations from 9.30am on Monday mornings or from 9.30am on Tuesdays following a bank holiday. If the void is available, you will need to post or fax the referral form and it needs to be with us no later than the Thursday of the same week at 3pm. If it the form is not received by this deadline, we will re-advertise the void. Please note that only one self contained void may be reserved per telephone call. Clients referred for a specific property on the voids list will only be nominated to that property. If the nomination is unsuccessful the client will be cancelled from the system. The same client can be referred for another property on a subsequent Voids List, although a new application form will be required and the procedure described above needs to be followed from the beginning.
Acknowledgement letters Allocating clients to properties Housing provider/referring agency responsibilities It is essential that a referral worker or keyworker accompanies the client to the interview and the viewing. If a TST is working in partnership with a housing provider, it is important that they are have a chance to meet the client as soon as possible - preferably before they are interviewed. You should contact the TST as soon as a nomination has been made and send them appropriate information on the client including a risk assessment and Support needs indicators. Successful liaison between referral agencies /pre-tenancy providers, TSTs and RSLs can be crucial in establishing a successful tenancy. A Handover Protocol has been agreed and endorsed by The Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate. This sets out the roles and Responsibilities of Pre-Tenancy Providers, TSTs and RSLs when a person is nominated for and takes up an RSI Tenancy. The protocol has been circulated to RSI partner organisations for signing by each agency Clearing House action to fill property where initial referral is unsuccessful Clearing House Two Nomination Policy for Clients on the Waiting List Please note that failure to attend a viewing or interview will count as an offer. Clients who have previously been housed under the initiative or cancelled from the self contained waiting list cannot be referred to the Clearing House for one year, accept via appeal which must be made in writing to the Clearing House Team Leader.
If you do not notify us promptly the client may receive an inappropriate offer of accommodation. This not only wastes the time and the energies of both the Clearing House and the housing provider, but also causes unnecessary delays for another, more appropriate client who could have been nominated, not to mention the possible rental loss. In addition, your client may also be penalised as, in some cases, the offer may count against them. Please also notify us if the referral worker changes. Placing client applications on hold The Clearing House allows referring agencies to place clients they have temporarily lost contact with on hold for a maximum of 6 weeks at any one time (and a total of 12 weeks during a client’s waiting time with the Clearing House ). Clients may also be placed on hold if they would temporarily be unable to take up an offer of accommodation due, for example, to a personal crisis, short spell in detox or prison or any other important and relevant issue. During this time the client will receive no nominations (see our on hold policy). If the problem is resolved during the ‘held period’ it is your responsibility to notify the Clearing House in writing. Your client will then be reactivated and available for housing. Just before the ‘held period’ has expired, you need to contact the Clearing House to either cancel the client or to make him/her available for housing again. Change in support needs Where a client’s support needs have changed significantly but they are still appropriate for RSI accommodation, please notify us in writing giving us the new details. This will enable us to update our records accordingly, allocate more appropriately and send the most up to date information to the housing provider and TST. If your client no longer requires housing through the Clearing House Please notify us in writing as soon if you know this to be the case. Client Audits Every three months the Clearing House administers a Client Audit. This exercise is done to ensure the information we are holding on your client is accurate, and to give you an additional opportunity to update or change the information. If client audit letters are not returned within the stated deadline, your client may be removed from the waiting list. The Client Audit acts as a useful reminder to referral agencies to keep us posted. However, please do not wait for the audit to be sent out before updating us with important news on changes in your client’s circumstances. Please see the client audit policy for more detials.
Performance Indicators
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