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Local authority housing departments are not tackling rent arrears management or working closely enough with social services departments as part of their homelessness strategies, warns Shelter.

In the second of its research reports into the progress of local authorities and The Homelessness Act 2002, Shelter reveals that only one in five of the 26 local authorities surveyed had reviewed the impact of their own rent arrears management practices on local homelessness.

Adam Sampson, director of Shelter, said: "Councils and housing associations need to look hard at the way they work to ensure homelessness is no longer caused by hasty evictions and exclusions of those with past rent arrears."


Shelter wants local authorities and registered social landlords to identify ways of preventing homelessness caused by rent arrears - such as arrears resolution services - as part of their homelessness strategies due out next month.

The report also finds that the closer co-operation between housing and social services required under the act has still not been achieved in most areas because of "poor communication, insufficient resources and a lack of vision".


Seven authorities said engaging with social services was proving to be the main difficulty in developing their strategies while more than half the authorities' joint working practices on Children's Act cases had not been revised.

- Homelessness Act Implementation Research: Local Authority Progress and Practice Six Months On from www.shelter.org.uk