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Housing Support

Our Housing Support Outreach Service is a free, short term service. We can assess your circumstances and give low level housing support to help you resolve a crisis and improve your skills and confidence to take control of your life and make your own decisions about your future.

If you need longer term support, we can arrange an assessment with a Housing Officer (Support) who may be able to commission a longer term housing support package to suit you. This service is available free of charge  if you are homeless or at the risk of becoming homeless, and have been assessed as needing help so you can stay, or become independent, in your own home.

For more information about the help and support our Housing Support service can give you please view our Housing Support service leaflet (pdf 379KB).

Find out more about:

Eligibility

If you are aged 16 and living in Aberdeenshire you may self refer, or be referred, to the Housing Support service by your Housing Officer, Careers Officer, Social Worker or any other person who may be working with you.

You can be living in any type of accommodation in Aberdeenshire.

What the service can help you with

Depending upon your assessed needs Housing Support can help you to:

  • manage your money, bills and budget
  • settle you into a new home - for example sorting out your gas and electric supplier
  • point you to other services
  • help you report repairs, sort out rent and other tenancy issues
  • help you to arrange, and prompt you to attend, appointments and meetings
  • help you fill in forms and write letters
  • support you with leisure, skills, and employment opportunities
  • prompt and support you to develop or maintain independent living skills

What the service can't help you with

The Housing Support service can't help you with:

  • managing your finances for you
  • paying your bills for you
  • giving you personal care or helping with washing and dressing, we will help you to apply for home care services
  • doing housework, cooking or carry out repairs for you, we will help you to report repairs or apply for home care services
  • bringing prescriptions to your home or giving you medicines or tablets
  • doing your washing or ironing
  • going with you on outings or social events
  • giving counselling, we will help you to access counselling services
  • settling disputes between you and other people, we will help you access mediation services

The role of your Housing Support Officer

Your Housing Support Officer Support will carry out an assessment by talking to you to find out what your needs are and what sort of support would be best for you. We will talk to you about your circumstances, your past experiences, your situation now and what you would like to achieve in the future. Your Housing Support Officer will help you put a support plan together. The plan will list your goals, such as changes that you want to make. Your Housing Support Officer will aim to help you improve your skills and confidence and achieve the best outcomes for you.

Your Housing Support Officer will regularly review your support needs to make sure the support you are getting is what you need.

What you can expect from us

Here is what you can expect from us:

  • We will listen carefully to everything you tell us, treating your concerns with understanding
  • We will be sensitive about any personal information you tell us
  • We will not discriminate against you because of your:
    Age
    Disability
    Gender reassignment
    Marriage and civil partnership
    Pregnancy and maternity
    Race
    Religion or belief
    Sex
    Sexual orientation
  • We will treat you with consideration and respect the confidentiality of your situation
  • We will check regularly that we keep our promises and will check regularly that the terms in our service standards are being carried out

Access to your personal data

View our Access to Personal Files leaflet (pdf 135KB) to find out more about the council's duty towards you when accessing your data, your rights on how we use that data and how you can access your information.

Other helpful organisations

These organisations can also provide you with support and advice:

  • Shelter Scotland can give you confidential advice, information and advocacy if you have housing problems
  • Citizen's Advice Bureau can give you advice on handling problems with your landlord and help to avoid losing your home
  • LGBT Youth Scotland is Scotland’s national charity for LGBTI young people, working with 13–25 year olds across the country
  • Four Pillars supports the LGBT+ community in manners of mental, emotional, physical and sexual health and offers information and support on a person to person basis
  • Grampian Women's Aid supports women, children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse
  • Fear Free supports people who are experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland who identify themselves as a man or from the LGBT+ community

Contact us

If you need more information, or have any questions, about our Housing Support service, please contact us on 03456 08 12 03.