“It’s good to talk”
I can’t remember where I heard that phrase but that’s what led to a positive result for one of my clients. Before arriving at Manna, I was working at Age UK. I’m still in contact with my ex- colleagues there and they hadn’t heard of Manna and didn’t know what it did until I took up employment here. Since then, a few people say they have been signposted here by Age UK, one such was Mr S.
When I first interviewed him, I learned he had actually been referred by my replacement at Age UK. He had not heard of Manna before and was pleasantly surprised by the range of services he discovered here. At one stage he told me that he would spread the word! He attended with a friend for support and advocacy.
Mr S was despondent because he had applied to the Council as homeless in 2016 upon release from Prison and they had evicted him from temporary accommodation, a few years later, after issuing a s184non-priority homeless decision- the Council was not under any obligation to house him.
He had been looking for accommodation since 2020 but there was a restriction upon where he could live because of his criminal record. This narrowed the number of options available to me to help him. As his health had deteriorated markedly, since the last time that he had applied to the Council, I decided to apply again, completing a Duty To Refer (DTR) a notification of homelessness, asking him to bring me some medical documents to support the application and I organised a viewing of a private rental simultaneously.
During my next appointment I learned he had been unsuccessful with the rental; I tried organising another viewing and was informed that as he had been refused by one of the Landlords served by that Agency, they were not going to consider him for another one. By now Mr S had been accepted by the Council as homeless and I gathered he was now on their rent deposit scheme, he just had to find a property. He also left me the contact card for an Estate Agent whom he thought Manna would find useful.
I rang the Agent the next day, explaining how I had acquired his details. He replied” Oh is that Mr S?” I replied “Yes”. He continued “Oh we housed him yesterday- the Tenancy agreement has been signed!” The Agent was happy to work with Manna going forward and requested further details from me.
I was overjoyed about Mr S and when I called, he was happy too. His new home is not far from either of his children, whom he had occasionally stayed with. He now felt that he could start life again and said” That was all down to you, starting things off with the Council”. I sent an email to the lady who had referred him from Age Uk. The opening line of her message read,” What a lovely mail to open on a Monday Morning…” It really can be good to talk!