Reducing evictions and abandonment toolkit

Why reduce evictions and abandonment?
Understanding the causes
Tackling cross-cutting issues
Improving behaviour
Preventing and managing arrears
Reducing abandonment
Preventing other unplanned moves
A commissioners' guide to reducing eviction and abandonment
Reducing evictions and abandonments: information and good practice seminar - Crewe YMCA
Evictions and abandonment toolkit - content index

Welcome to Homeless Link’s evictions and abandonment toolkit. The toolkit includes guidance, tools, resources and examples from other services to help you understand the causes of evictions and abandonment in your area and give you ideas and means to reduce them.

Who should use the toolkit?

Local authorities and other commissioners

As a commissioner you are perfectly placed to enable services to improve their levels of unplanned moves.  For more detail of how you can use the toolkit from your unique position, please read our Commissioners' Guide to Reducing Eviction and Abandonment.

We also held a Commissioners’ Spotlight Event on this issue on 14 June 2011. For more information on this please click here.

Service providers

The toolkit below provides the guidance you need to help you reduce levels of eviction and abandonment. It covers the three steps as outlined below. If you would like direct assistance, please see our offer of further support, available throughout 2011. 

what is included in the toolkit?

The toolkit covers three steps:
 
Step one - making the case for reducing unplanned moves
 

Step two - understanding the reasons for evictions and abandonment in your service or local area

Step three - taking practical action: a menu of options

The ideas and tools provided in this toolkit are the result of our research into evictions and abandonment from hostels in London, as well as a year’s work with five pilot services to reduce their evictions and abandonment. For further information about this project click here. 
 

Where do I start?

If you’re unsure where to begin, we have developed a simple initial audit guide. The guide is simply a series of questions, designed to generate discussion and thought, and to suggest where possible improvements or adaptations in practice could be beneficial.
 
We have also produced a toolkit contents index to help you navigate the toolkit more easily. If you are looking for support on a particular issue and aren’t sure where to look this is a great place to begin!