MUIR VOWS TO HELP HALT HOMELESSNESS BY PLAYING ITS PART IN NEW INITIATIVE
MUIR has vowed to help halt homelessness by committing to refer anyone at risk to a local authority.
The housing association has signed up to the new ‘Commitment to Refer’ initiative which will support the Homelessness Reduction Act – introduced in 2017.
It means Muir staff will be providing even more support to people struggling to find accommodation in our communities.
Launched by the National Housing Federation (NHF), Commitment to Refer sees housing associations pledge to help homeless people, or those at risk, to receive support by alerting local authorities to the circumstances of an individual, or family.
Muir’s Director of Operations, Sam Scott (right) said: “Helping those at risk, or experiencing homelessness is something we care deeply about as a housing association.
“We are delighted to support not only the NHF’s Commitment to Refer initiative, but also the people who will benefit from it.
“Housing Associations can be key to helping people get their lives back on track and signing up to this initiative provides another way for Muir to have a positive impact.”
Homeless charity ‘Crisis’ reported that the number of local authority homelessness prevention and relief cases topped 215,000 in 2016-17 – an increase of £30% when compared with 2009-10 figures
It estimates that more than 4,750 people slept rough on English streets in 2016-17 – compared with 1,768 seven years earlier.
To learn more about Commitment to Refer, visit https://www.housing.org.uk/topics/welfare-reform/homelessness/commitment-to-refer/