By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
A council is to expand its housing team after a stark increase in people coming forward who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes.
Newark and Sherwood District Council said cases have been rising significantly in recent years.
Two new members of staff, one permanent and one temporary, will be brought in as a remedy to the problems, it was decided at the authority’s cabinet meeting on June 7.
Housing Options Services at the council provides advice and assistance to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
Council documents show that in 2021-22, there were a total of 1162 cases recorded, compared to 803 in 2020-21.
In 2019-20, there were 971 cases.
Documents published ahead of the meeting stated: “The Council are now beginning to see the true effect of people’s heightened mental health issues, relationship breakdowns, landlords serving notice and pursuing in the Courts following Covid.”
There is also extra demand on the service with some staff working on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Councillors unanimously approved the recommendation to allocate £64,921 to fund a permanent Housing Options Officer and a temporary Housing Assistant.
Councillor Tim Wendels (Con) said the numbers showed a “significant increase” in those who had come forward.
He said: “The cost of living crisis is resulting in increased approaches from families and individuals who have lost their private and socially rented accommodation or have had a failure on their mortgage.
“There is a number of reasons why without the additional staffing requested, the team is really going to struggle to meet that service requirement.”
Councillor Roger Jackson (Con) added: “I think there’s a lot of pressure on the housing department, with refugees, not just from Ukraine but from other countries as well.
“I think in the future it’s going to be a real issue for us to have to contain or deal with. We’ll probably need more staff in the future.”
Councillor Paul Peacock, leader of the Labour group, said: “I am fully supportive of this. “This kind of work is incredibly emotionally stressful, dealing with people in desperate situations.
“It’s welcome that we are investing in that service and hopefully that alleviates some of the stress for existing staff.”
