Helping people to live independently

The Supporting People Programme Grant means people get help in their own communities without adding extra costs and pressure to public services.

I recently stopped a Torfaen man from being illegally evicted from his flat and becoming homeless. This would have worsened his mental health issues and put him in unsuitable accommodation.

His privately rented flat was flooded and his landlord moved him to another home. During one of my support visits, I was checking his letters and he showed me a three-month eviction notice. I could see it had been illegally post-dated.

This had been making him anxious. He is bi-polar, schizophrenic and has anger management issues.

I spoke to his landlord who wasn’t very happy that I had spotted what he had been trying to do. The extra time meant that we could get his application into Homeseeker ready to start bidding for a new place to live.

I supported him through this and, in a lovely coincidence, a flat that he lived in many years ago became available and his application was successful.

He couldn’t manage the contact with the different agencies such as removals, housing benefit, the health charities and the Department for Work and Pensions. My work with him made sure it was smooth and he knew what was happening at every step.

He is meeting all of his support outcomes which we agreed when I began working with him. It won’t be long before I stop seeing him and take on another person to help live independently.


Amanda James
Support Officer, Bron Afon Community Housing