Welcome to the Housing Needs Team at Runnymede

The Housing Needs section at Runnymede is made up of the Allocations Team, the Housing Advice Team, the Private Sector Resettlement Team, the Temporary Accommodation Manager and the Housing Support Co-Ordinator, managed by the Housing Needs Manager.

The Housing Needs Team work together to ensure that anyone who is in need of housing is given the most appropriate advice and assistance to deal with their individual housing situation. That doesn't mean we can always provide you with a home though, but we will work with you to address your needs the best we can.

The Allocations Team is the first point of contact for queries about joining the Housing Register for SEARCH MOVES and questions concerning bidding for properties once you are accepted onto the Housing Register. The team also deals with any changes in circumstances you may need to inform us of as well as being the contact point for viewing properties once you have been offered a property through the Choice Based Lettings System. You can read more about this on our Choice Based Lettings web page. The team also deal with mutual exchanges through our Homeswapper partnership.

The Housing Advice team is the first point of contact if you have concerns over your current housing situation. You may be worried about losing your home or you may be homeless and need emergency advice and assistance. The team can advise you on all aspects of tenure, landlord problems, debt worries, housing benefit queries and provide you with a menu of options to suit your personal circumstances. They will also provide you with a Housing Options Pack which will guide you in your choices and signpost you to other relevant agencies for help and support. We cannot help everyone when it comes to emergency accommodation as we are guided by strict legislation - you can read more about this in our homelessness and housing advice web pages, and also our web page specifically for young people – special advice for young people, which is designed to guide you to other agencies for help and support in all areas of life, not just housing.

The Private Sector Resettlement Team work very closely with the Housing Advice team, identifying and matching suitable private rented properties to those people who are threatened with homelessness and who meet the criteria of the legislation in this area. They work closely with landlords and tenants to help sustain the tenancies of those people where we have prevented their homelessness and offer a wide variety of FREE services to landlords to encourage this vital partnership working. To read more about how this scheme works please click onto our renting privately for landlords and tenants webpage.

The Temporary Accommodation Manager manages the properties and issues of those people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness as defined by the legislation and who we have placed into our temporary accommodation housing . She is responsible to ensure our residents are bidding for suitable properties under the SEARCH MOVES scheme and that they are managing well in their current accommodation and signposting them for support if they need it.

The Housing Support Co-Ordinator ensures the floating support is provided to those people who most need it in both private and social housing . She is also responsible for the identification and co ordination with other agencies for the mental and physical health needs of vulnerable people who are in need of housing and ensuring the flow of communication and actions to support these people in the community.

If in doubt just ring 01932 425831 and speak to a member of the Housing Needs team who will be happy to help you.

Joan Stephens
Housing Needs manager

Fordham Research were commissioned to carry out a Housing Study for Runnymede. The study was designed to assess the future requirements for both affordable and market housing. To do this the study drew on a number of sources of information.

Housing Needs Report - February 2009 - pdf document

My Advice Gateway is a free resource to help you quickly find the information you need to claim benefits, access help and support or look for a job or training opportunities.