A borough council is good to go with a new case management system pitched as easing administration of the Homelessness Reduction Act.

A borough council in Leicestershire will be the first English local authority to go live with HOPE, the Homeless Reduction Act (HRAct) software from Home Connections. The new case management software adopted by Oadby & Wigston Borough Council – and being readied to launch next month – is pitched as the future for easing administration, communications and reporting for local authorities in England and Wales.

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 is the biggest change in homelessness legislation since the 1977 Act was introduced. It proposes new duties such as the duty to provide advice and assistance, extended homelessness prevention to 56 days, new reporting requirements and much more. Local authorities will need to change their current working practices and deploy additional resources.

With that in mind, Home Connections has developed a fully configurable case management system with built in assessment and recording tools to help provide advice as well as accommodation options. Home Connections is a boutique software house developed as a not for profit service provider for the social housing sector owned and controlled by local authorities and housing associations with a brief to provide ‘best of breed’ technology and consultancy.

HOPE is aimed to ease the everyday tasks of housing officers from initial review, through assessment, personal housing planning and securing accommodation or closing cases. Applicants can apply and manage their application online.

Home Connections’ national mobility scheme, Homefinder UK can also be supplied as part of the system to offer actual housing options for applicants wanting to move across borough boundaries.

Steve Nash, housing services manager at Oadby & Wigston Borough Council and CIH Member said: “We are really excited to be working with Home Connections to deliver HOPE. “It is important to us to be prepared in advance of April 2018 for the increased pressure that this new legislation will place on our workload. “The act will change the way we prevent and relieve homelessness and so, we need to change the way we work and that will not happen overnight. “HOPE will be ready to go live in September, allowing us plenty of time to prepare for successful implementation of the act in April 2018.”

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/software-offers-hope-to-the-homeless/