Our ‘Housing First for Families’ support service provides direct support to our tenant households with children, who are struggling to maintain their tenancy, or who have previously been through the homeless system.

Housing First is an approach that offers permanent, affordable housing as quickly as possible for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and then provides the supportive services and connections to the community-based supports people need to keep their housing and avoid returning to homelessness.

We allocate around 35% of our lets to homeless households and, as part of the Riverside Group, have a strong commitment to tackling homelessness. This dedicated resource helps homeless people not only settle into their tenancies but supports them in building a stable future going forward, preventing them from ending up in a cycle of homelessness.

The service supports tenants in a range of ways including;

• providing financial and employment advice and assistance
• liaising with other agencies to coordinate and manage support provision
• facilitating access to health and social care services as needed
• and providing a single point of contact for the household.

We have three support co-ordinators covering Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway. Emma Ward & Amanda Robinson cover Ayrshire and Ami Aindow is based in Dumfries.

If you feel this intensive support would be beneficial to you, you should discuss this with the Housing Support service in your local area and they can refer you to this service.