Northampton homeless charity facing funding difficulties due to council dispute
Naash has been helping homeless people for decades but is facing financial difficulties due to 'anomalies' in housing benefit claims
By Sarah Ward
A long standing Northampton charity which houses and supports homeless people is facing a funding problem due to a dispute with the West unitary.
NN Journal understands that Northampton Association for Accommodation for Single Homeless (NAASH) has had some funding pulled by West Northamptonshire Council due to what the council views as a discrepancy over housing benefit claims.
The charity, which houses more than 200 people and supports them with personal issues, uses housing benefit money received to secure accommodation. The charity does not own its housing, usually renting rooms in homes of multiple occupation.
The organisation has not wanted to go public with the issue in an attempt to resolve the situation but some close to the charity say that if funding is clawed back it could have a significant impact on NAASH and even lead to some people being evicted and ending up back on the streets. The charity, which has been operating since 2000 is well thought of.
Jim Trevling, who is a contractor with the organisation told:
“In my capacity as an electrician, I’ve witnessed firsthand the quality of care and support the homeless charity Naash have provided. From accepting the customer from the council, regardless of any issues, they rehouse, provide basic furnishings, hygiene products, universal credit applications, help with any services they may require eg addiction clinics to food banks.
“On occasion, I have seen the support staff take a tenant to the dentist or doctors appointments.
“They truly are a wonderful genuine charitable organisation that serves our community so well.”
The council says there are anomalies in the housing benefit claims. Housing cabinet member at WNC Cllr Charlie Hastie said:
“The council is very mindful of the impact the current situation is having, and of the difficult position tenants now face as a result of the challenges affecting NAASH.
“The council has been working over a long period to try and address anomalies in the housing benefits claims made for NAASH properties and the tenants that live there.
“Housing Benefit is governed by nationally set regulations and where evidence cannot be provided to support claims that have been put in then we are not able to pay benefit, this is also true of historic payments which if, upon review, are not supported by the required evidence also have to be recovered as overpayments.
“The council has no choice in this matter as the government both sets the regulations and will not pay the council to meet these costs if they do not comply with the regulations."
The organisation has said in a short statement:
“Naash as an organisation have no plans to close and have not issued any eviction notices at this time. We are still working with WNC to try and resolve this situation.”
Housing Benefit was being run reasonably well when it was being administered by the former Northampton Borough Council with joint working and shared resources in an arrangement with Milton Keynes . That all changed under West Northamptonshire, a new head of service formerly from South Northants was parachuted in, who appointed her clique of friends as line managers, they thought they knew best and ended the partnership arrangement, were totally against homeworking and p'd off all the staff. As a result nearly all the staff voted with their feet and moved to better Councils elsewhere , so they lost all the good experienced staff , came onto the radar of the DWP as performance was so bad, joint worse out of the whole country in terms of the average number of day to process new Housing Benefit claims - over 2 months whereas nationally it is more like 23 days.
This is also a potential problem across the country with “supported housing crisis” and with Myshon in north Northants with support adding Up to £200 on top of the rents with very little support being provided. And very little move on step up accommodation available