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The Advice and Welfare service worked with 95 clients in April; of whom 26 were entirely new clients and the remaining 69 were clients who were already known to the service. Of the 95 clients, 52 were resident in Southwark (55%) the remainder from other locations. The number of clients on the database has now grown to 1,220.

During this month, we were able to offer 93% service cover.  In each session, the number of clients seen was around 7 clients per session. Two-thirds of clients had a single consultation. 13% of clients requiring a substantial number of visits during this period due to the completion of the ROBES project – compared to 38% in March.

Overall, 13% of clients were female in this month and 87% of clients using the service were male.

Ethnicity

Housing Status

Looking at the overall picture this month, some 57% of clients claimed to be rough sleeping, with 16% being in secure accommodation, and a further 15% who remain roofless. The remainder of the population are placed in a variety of accommodation – 12%.

Housing need - April 2008

Just 18 clients approached us for assistance with housing this month accounting for 19% of all clients attending the Advice office. Of these, 11 were clients within Southwark and 7 from outside of our borough. Of these, 3 clients could not be assisted due to no recourse to funds in the UK or did not have the required ID and benefits to actively pursue housing.

Actively we were able to assist 15 clients. We made 14 referrals with a success rate of 50%, with 3 clients awaiting a decision or on waiting lists. With HPU cases, there can be delays in preparation or pursuit and these cases account for those awaiting decision.

We are looking to pursue HPU cases as actively as possible particularly as many local authorities have now tied up access to their hostel stock purely to their homeless unit, thus preventing direct referrals from agencies such as ours.

SUMMARY
Base	18
Referrals	14
(placed )	(7)
Unable to assist	4
	Referrals	Placements
Hostels	6	4
Nightshelter	0	0
CAT Referrals	1	1
Rent deposit/private rented	3	0
HPU	4	2
Sheltered Accommodation	0	0
Specialist Housing project	0	0
Total	14	7
Other Outcomes
Interview next month	1
Waiting List	1
Failed to keep appt	1
Awaiting decision	2
Client refused property	2
Total	7
Reasons why unable to assist
Nothing suitable on the day	1
No live benefits or ID	1
Specific Hostel requested	1
No recourse to benefits	2
Total	4