With homelessness up 19 per cent, a housing charity has launched a programme to get families off the streets.
Shelter, backed by Hackney Council, hopes to tackle the drastic rise in homeless families between 2012 and 2013.
There were 618 homeless families in Hackney in 2013 compared to 520 the year before, according to Department for Communities and Local Government. The rise in Hackney outstrips the national rise of 7 per cent.
Intensive support will include individual case officers working with families for up to a year in addition to drop-in sessions.
The exact nature of the support will vary according the needs of different families, but could involve help getting into work, mental health services and financial advice for anything from rent arrears to payday loan problems.
More than 100 families will benefit from the service every year, along with a further 400 families in Hackney who will be helped by weekly housing advice surgeries run by Shelter, hosted at different locations across the borough.
The newly created Hackney Family Service will be backed by the philanthropic Berkeley Foundation and work alongside the council.
Connie Cullen, service manager at Hackney Family Service, said: “It can take just one thing, like a serious illness, to tip any one of us into a downward spiral that puts our home at risk. And without a stable home it can be almost impossible to get back on your feet.
“Homelessness is often a symptom of much deeper problems, so by helping to tackle the underlying reasons that put a family’s home at risk we want to stop them from going through the trauma of homelessness.”
Charmaine Young CBE, chief executive of the Berkeley Foundation, said: “The Hackney Family Service promises to deliver a really meaningful impact to people in Hackney who are at risk of homelessness and have complex family needs.”
The charity is asking local families who need housing advice or more intensive support to call the Hackney Family Service office on 0344 515 1447 for more information on their next and nearest advice surgery.
@KatieVMarston