Housing options and social housing guide

Overview
Helping you stay in your current home
Helping you find alternative accommodation
How to make a social housing application

Helping you to stay in your current home

Mediation and negotiation

If your family wants you to leave or your landlord has given you notice, we can help talk to them. We might meet or speak with your family or landlord to understand why they want you to leave.

Our goal is to find a solution that lets you stay, like making an agreement with your family or landlord. Another option is getting help from a mediation company at www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk.

Floating support

Our floating support service is a great tool to help you settle into a new home or help you to resolve issues in your current home.

An officer will visit you at home, to help you work through: mounting bills

budgeting
seeking employment
or training
overcome social isolation
help you to manage your relationship with your landlord

Debt advice

If you're having trouble with debts and are at risk of losing your home due to mortgage or rent issues, we can offer simple advice or guide you to more in-depth help. We'll carefully look into your financial situation and the amount of debt you have.

After understanding your debts better, we'll connect you with local organisations that specialise in managing and advising on debt. The goal is to help you stay in your home by providing the right support.

If you prefer, you can also seek advice independently. There are national debt advice services, and you can find free guidance on the GOV.UK website.

Maximising your income

If you're living with family or friends or in a mortgaged, private, or rented home, we can help you with your finances. We will asses your financial situation and we might find that you're not getting all the financial help you're eligible for, or there's a problem with your income, like stopped benefits.

If we identify you're missing out on benefits, we'll guide you on how to claim them, so you can better afford where you're staying.

If your benefits have stopped, we'll investigate why and take actions to fix the issues through a Personalised Housing Plan.

You can start by using the online Benefits Calculator for an accurate assessment.

Experiencing domestic abuse

If you are experiencing domestic abuse we can put you in touch with our Cheshire East Domestic Abuse Hub. They can provide a domestic abuse worker to support you and help you stay safe in your current property if this is safe and something you want to do. Options include strengthening security at the property and arranging an injunction.

We are committed to supporting those who suffer from domestic abuse. How we aim to do this, and what to expect from our service, can be found in our Domestic abuse customer policy ( PDF, 246KB)

Direct financial assistance

If it’s identified that you may be able to remain in your current accommodation with a one off payment your housing officer may be able to make an application to Cheshire East Emergency Assistance or our Homelessness Prevention Fund.

This can be discussed with your Homechoice and Prevention Officer. This payment must be in combination with other prevention options such as negotiating with your landlord or resolving rent arrears.