SmartMove provides homeless or vulnerably housed people with comprehensive housing advice and access to good quality accommodation in the private sector. It offers landlords a guarantee in place of the traditional deposit. It can provide the tenants with ongoing support and advice to enable them to sustain their tenancies, as well as befriending support from volunteers for new tenants who may be living independently for the first time.
SmartMove Hartlepool
Contact: Angela Brough/Beverly Goodwin
Opening Hours:
The office is based within the Citizen's Advice Bureau and is open to the public from 10am - 3pm on weekdays. Telephone enquiries can be handled 9am - 4.30pm on Fridays. The Housing Advice unit operates 9.30am - 3.30pm on weekdays.
About SmartMove Hartlepool:
Homelessness is a big issue, and there is very little temporary accommodation available and no Salvation Army or YMCA hostels.
Council housing stock is low as a result of the right to buy programme, with long waiting lists for the more popular areas. Hartlepool council tenants have recently voted in favour of creating an 'arms length' housing company to take over the management of council properties.
The private rented sector has become increasingly high profile. Hartlepool has almost twice the average proportion (41% of residential property) of terraced houses. These are mainly small two bedroom houses now approaching a hundred years old and usually located in the less desirable areas of the town. Three bedroom and larger properties are at a premium.
At the same time there is a corresponding shortage of flats (9% of residential property) - roughly half the national average. This high level of availability of low priced terraced property has contributed to a marked increase in "buy to let" landlords and agents
The increase in the buy-to-let sector is coincident with a perceived deterioration in the standard of repair and management of private rented accommodation which has had a severe impact on local communities and quality of life issues. These problems have been brought sharply into focus recently by the involuntary winding up action brought against one of the major "but to let" management companies, which controlled over 800 properties in the Hartlepool area. Active steps have been taken to address the problem.
Our Partners:
Hartlepool Citizen's Advice Bureau, Hartlepool Borough Council, National Probation Service, New Deal for Communities, The Community Fund, Teesside Drug Network, Hartlepool Domestic Violence Forum, Drug and Alcohol Unit, various landlord associations.
Address:
Hartlepool Citizen's Advice Bureau
87 Park Road
Hartlepool
TS26 9HP
Telephone: 01429 277 030
Fax: 01429 868 803
