Shelter's East Lothian Project
Shelter's East Lothian Project was set up in October 2000 in order to address homelessness issues within the area.
Aims of the Project
- To prevent homelessness through the provision of information, advice, advocacy and training.
- To alleviate homelessness where it has occurred and to assist in finding sustainable solutions through information, advice and advocacy.
- To reduce future homelessness by providing comment and information on strategic and service development within East Lothian.
What the Project does
The project provides impartial and independent information, advice and advocacy on housing and homelessness issues within East Lothian. This service is available across all types of tenancy agreement and is delivered through a combination of primary and secondary advice services.
Primary services involve direct work with clients, whilst secondary services provide consultancy (information or advice) to agencies or individuals who are in contact with clients.
Shelter's East Lothian Project also works in partnership with East Lothian Council in the development of strategy and services by reflecting the needs of service users. This is achieved through participation in groups such as:
- The East Lothian Housing Advice Partnership
- The East Lothian Housing Forum
- The East Lothian Homelessness Strategy Group
How the service works
The service is delivered through the following means:
- A public telephone advice line (0344 515 2490) available Monday and Friday 10am-1pm.
- An advice line for the sole use of agencies available Monday and Friday 10am-1pm and Wednesday 1pm-4pm.
- Outreach surgeries. Current surgeries are held Tuesday 10am-12pm and Wednesday 10am-12pm. Locations vary and are publicised in advance. Call the advice line on 0344 515 2490 to find out more.
- Face to face advice at locations convenient to the client and the project, available by appointment.
The East Lothian Project team
The Project team consists of one part-time Senior Project Worker, one part-time administrator, one full-time and one part-time Advice Worker.
Andy's story
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26-year-old Andy is just one of the people the East Lothian Project has helped. Andy was living in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation, having previously been sleeping rough. The council's housing department had deemed him to be a non-priority case and so not entitled to permanent housing. Andy had initially approached Shelter for support in his appeal on this decision. On investigation it became apparent that Andy had a medical condition that should have made him a priority case. He hadn't volunteered information about his medical situation when making his homelessness application and the council had failed to ask the questions that would have brought his condition to light. The advice worker explained this to Andy, who wished to go ahead with the appeal. The appeal was rejected initially, but further medical evidence was gained from Andy's GP and presented to the council, with the help of the Housing Aid Worker and Shelter Housing Law Service. When this evidence was presented, Andy was advised by the council to fill in a further medical questionnaire, which he did with the support of the Housing Aid Worker. The happy ending of this case is that Andy was found to be priority and will be rehoused by the council when appropriate housing is available. (Please note the names and some small details have been changed in this story to retain anonymity.) |
Contact us
For more information call our advice line:
Primary advice line: 0344 515 2490
Open Monday and Friday 10am-1pm and Wednesday 1pm-4pm.
