HARP Connect (Housing Advice, Resettlement and Prevention) (360G-LondonCouncils-03)

HARP Connect supports prison leavers at all stages of their journey through the criminal justice system. Starting in prison to the day of release and in the community, we provide expert housing advice and trauma informed targeted interventions to prevent homelessness. Project activities include: identifying prison leavers aged 25+, who are serving short-term sentences (less than one year), on licence recalls or on remand, and who are at risk of homelessness, undertaking thorough housing/need and risk assessments and provide comprehensive action plans to address them, providing interventions to save existing tenancies at risk, supporting to access temporary and long-term accommodation, including viewings and applications, offering to meet at gate on day of release where required, supporting with benefits, bills, furnishings and other essentials, working with housing providers, local authorities and private landlords to provide ongoing tenancy support, helping service users gain personal resilience through referrals to other appropriate community services and wider St Mungo’s services (including our specialist mental health, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, financial advice, ETE (Education, Training and Employment) through our Recovery College and Employment team, providing a service user Move on Fund to enhance settled accommodation outcomes among an often financially disadvantaged target group, to be used towards one-off essential accommodation expenses, including rental deposits and promoting the service through existing relationships with prisons, probation teams, local authority teams and voluntary sector organisations.