Shelter Scotland and Aberdeen City Council team up to combat homelessness
29 June 2011
Residents of Aberdeen facing the threat of losing their home are to benefit from a comprehensive new package of homelessness prevention services provided by Shelter Scotland. The move follows a contract award from the City Council.
A Shelter Scotland team will support and advise people at risk of losing their home through eviction and people whose homelessness is exacerbated by substance misuse. A money adviser will provide additional guidance on managing household finances.
Shelter Scotland is also making its online advice available directly via Aberdeen City Council’s web site – making it the first Scottish local authority to provide this service for its residents.
The bold initiative is launched today 28th June by Donald Urquhart, Head of Housing and Community Safety at Aberdeen City Council and Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland.
Donald Urquhart, Head of Housing and Community Safety at Aberdeen City Council, says:
“Bringing in the expertise of Shelter Scotland demonstrates our commitment to developing best practice in homelessness services for Aberdeen residents.
“These services will work alongside our Prevention Team to provide independent advice, information casework and specialist support for individuals from all tenures to prevent homelessness and, where it has occurred, assist in finding sustainable solutions.
“This is a significant additional independent service that complements services provided by housing and other staff in the Council.
“We are excited to be the first local authority to make available Shelter Scotland’s award-winning online housing advice in our own web site. This will ensure Aberdeen residents can access up-to-the-minute information from Shelter Scotland’s experts every time they log into the council web site.”
Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, the housing and homelessness charity, says:
“Shelter Scotland looks forward to working closely with the City Council to help combat the homelessness challenges faced by Aberdeen.
“This comprehensive package of on-the-ground services aims to prevent homelessness and support those who have been made homeless. And, at a time when more people across Scotland are struggling with their household finances and keeping the family home, this one-stop shop for housing and money advice has never been needed more.
“We are really pleased that Aberdeen City Council is the first local authority to embed our online advice into their web site. We hope that more of Scotland’s local authorities will see the benefits this brings and consider making Shelter Scotland’s expert advice available to their residents via their web sites.”
The homelessness services can be contacted via telephone, 01224 522851, or email, aberdeenproject@shelter.org.uk
