The Enhanced Housing Options Trailblazers were being run by DCLG with support from the DWP. They aim was to develop innovative approaches to delivering housing options/advice services, by offering housing advice to people with low and medium housing need as well as those with acute need, and also by linking housing advice to wider advice about a range of issues such as training and employment, financial management, and access to benefits. The evaluation:
- assembled robust evidence on the process issues associated with setting up enhancements to existing services, as proposed by the trailblazers;
- measured the success of the programmes in achieving core objectives (meeting housing need with a wider range of solutions; using stock more effectively; tackling worklessness; and improving customer service);
- tracked the immediate and longer term outcomes for the different client groups who approach the service;
- explored the costs of running the service and the additional net cost savings that the service can generate;
- identified lessons learnt, leading to the development of a good practice toolkit as part of a series of measures to enable the housing options approach and to encourage the development of enhanced housing options services by other local authorities.
CLG's Introduction to Enhanced Housing Options TrailblazersAcross the country, 42 Enhanced Housing Options trailblazers were established to deliver new innovative ways of providing housing advice which empowers people and transforms lives. An ‘enhanced’ housing options approach promotes independence, choice, and opportunities by offering personalised advice to anyone in housing need, intervening before the point of crisis. Trailblazers provide advice on the full range of housing options from social housing to shared ownership to privately rented properties, linking this with wider advice on issues such as on employment, debt, drug and alcohol problems, or health – to help tackle the root causes of housing need. The housing options approach fundamentally transforms the way that those in housing need interact with providers of housing advice to ensure that people are fully informed and able to make the right choice for their individual circumstances. Funded by CLG, the trailblazer programme meets the core values of choice, empowerment and the provision of excellent customer services shaped around individuals’ needs. The Government would like to see all local authorities integrate services through a housing options approach. This website provides information and help, and a good practice toolkit with practical examples on how to deliver an effective housing options service will be produced as part of a comprehensive evaluation of the programme in 2011. |
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