The Mens Sector Project

Schemes: Men's Sector
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The Men’s Sector provides supported housing for 61 single homeless men.

In addition to being homeless, the referring criteria is that the man must have support needs that could include physical or mental health issues, an offending background, problems with alcohol and/or drugs, or a background of rough sleeping. It is accepted that most men referred will have a multiplicity of needs.

Aims & Objectives

• To provide a high quality housing and support service within Supporting People’s Resettlement Tier 1 which caters for men aged 16+ who have multiple support needs.• To promote a high level of independence and choice for each individual.

This is achieved by providing:
• A range of good quality, furnished accommodation in a variety of settings
• Educational, financial, life and social skills support
• Housing and emotional support so that service users can maximise their lives and develop confidence to lead more independent lives.
• Advice and practical support to obtain independent accommodation and assistance to move on from the sector.
• The opportunity to work on managing or addressing the difficulties that relate to being homeless.
• A staff team who have a variety of skills, knowledge and experience and are committed to providing care and support to the service users.
• Move on support for a time-limited period to be agreed upon after leaving LHC accommodation. accommodation.

Accommodation

The sector provides a variety of accommodation that encompasses Garforth House - a hostel in Holbeck, and a variety of either shared houses or single tenancies in the Beeston, Holbeck, Armley and Woodhouse areas of Leeds.

Garforth House: Garforth House has accommodation for15 men in individual, single rooms. The communal facilities include TV lounges, an IT training room, dining room, 5 bathrooms, snooker room, tenants kitchen and a laundry. Service users are expected to keep their individual rooms clean and tidy whilst the communal areas are serviced by an on-site housekeeper. The hostel has an extensive fenced garden, CCTV and has the offices for the Men's Sector staff team on site.

Shared Accommodation: Facilities in the shared houses vary depending upon the size of the property. All the houses have individual bedrooms and shared living accommodation such as lounges, kitchens and bathrooms that the service users are expected to have a collective responsibility to keep clean. The larger shared properties have hand washbasins in the bedrooms and in some instances a small fridge. In shared houses the weekly rent charge includes all services such as electricity, gas, water, community charge and TV licence fee.

Single Tenancies: This accommodation is fully furnished but the weekly rental charge does not include utility charges, community charge or a TV and it's licence.

Conditions of Occupancy

Residents in Garforth House are given a licence agreement whilst all tenants in both shared and single tenancies are given an assured shorthold tenancy agreement. In each case we aim to provide 6 months of support with the aim of helping service users access more permanent move on accommodation at the end of that time.

Support Services

All service users are allocated a key worker who co-ordinates mutually agreed support packages. The key worker meets regularly with tenants on an individual basis and makes referrals to other agencies such as health, counselling, psychiatric, detox and advocacy services, where needed. This is done to ensure that a full package of individually planned care and support is available to each tenant / licensee. In order to ensure equality of services to all, interpreters are provided for individuals for whom English is not their first language. Some organisation written information has been translated into the Farsi, Kurdish, Arabic, French and Portuguese languages.

Referrals

Referrals are accepted from voluntary, statutory and private organisations as well as from individuals themselves, however priority will be given to referrals from the Emergency Tier of Supporting People services. The sector accepts referrals from men who are over the age of 16, have a reasonably high degree of mobility and do not require 24-hour care.

Details of a person's background leading up to their current circumstances and support issues are recorded at the referral stage. Sector staff carry out a comprehensive risk assessment and, if it is agreed between the worker and the prospective tenant that accommodation in the Men's Sector is appropriate, the tenants will initially move into Garforth House. In some circumstances following the initial referral it may be necessary to obtain further information and/or arrange a face-to-face interview.

Following a period of assessment they will be offered the option of moving on to a group home or independent tenancy

Appeals

Where a referral request has been refused and the applicant or their referrer is not satisfied with the reasons given, they have the right to appeal the decision. Appeals should be made within 10 working days of receipt of the written decision using the accompanying appeals form. Once received an appeals meeting will be arranged within 5 working days chaired by a Service Manager at which the applicant and their referrer have the opportunity to state why they disagreed with the decision. An appeal decision will then be made within 3 working days.

Staff and Management

The service is staffed by a Team Leader, 6 Project Workers and a Housekeeper. The team is based at Garforth House Hostel.

The Team Leader reports directly to a Service Manager who is based at the organisations central office and has overall responsibility for the management of the service, it’s development, and ensuring the service meets it’s aims and objectives

Contact Details

Postal Address
Men’s Sector
Garforth House
118 Domestic Street
Leeds
LS11 9SG

Telephone: (0113) 244 0910
Fax: (0113) 244 2537
Email: info@leedshc.org.uk

Team Leader: Kevin Wall
Telephone: 0113 2440910
email: kwall@leedshc.org.uk

Service Manager: Lesley Sendall-Long
Telephone: 0113 272 8490
email: lsendall-long@leedshc.org.uk

Referrals / General Enquiries: Telephone: (0113) 276 0616

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