Monday to Friday 9am to 3pm

0808 1624 100
01624 675507
info@housingmatters.im

3 Albany Lane
Woodbourne Road Douglas
Isle of Man
IM2 3NS

Advice.Guidance.Support
Housing Matters is an Isle of Man registered charity providing advice, guidance and support to local families and individuals in housing crisis. Our vision is that everyone has the opportunity to access housing appropriate to their need.
Our aim is to promote and support the provision of suitable accommodation through liaison with private landlords and to assist with applications for social housing.
Volunteer & Donations
As a local charity we can only exist with your help, to volunteer or to donate
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ADVICE

Homelessness prevention
Finding suitable accommodation
Welfare benefits

GUIDANCE

Budgeting
Signposting
Referrals to other agencies

SUPPORT

Filling in forms
Meeting with landlords
Home starter packs

What we do

  • We help by working with trusted landlords to arrange short term accommodation whilst finding longer term housing solutions.

  • Offer a ‘Home Starter Pack’ supporting people in need with the essentials: food, bedding and toiletries.

  • Provide ongoing support, suggesting appropriate services. Arranging multi-agency meetings at the office to address any underlying issues which might later impact on a person’s ability to hold a permanent tenancy.

  • Working with Service Users, Landlords, Estate Agents to facilitate a sustainable tenancy. Liaising with other agencies to provide floating support where needed.

  • Advice for Tenants: For those embarking on independent living for the first time, we offer a tenant’s advice pack in conjunction with a day’s training . This is supported by the Manx Lottery Trust.

  • Advice for Landlords: we have packs available to Landlords for a nominal fee to help create a successful tenancy.

  • Peer Education: In an attempt to reduce the number of young people becoming homeless, Housing Matters, supported by Dandara, organises and delivers Peer Education sessions. If you would like one of our educators to visit your school or youth group, please contact us.

They helped me find a short term solution and with support I moved into a one bed flat. Housing Matters have helped me maintain my tenancy and get help from other support agencies.

Excerpt: Juan's Story

Find us here

Donate

As a local Manx charity we cannot survive without donations from our supporters.
We put every pound donated back into helping our community and those in need.

If you would like to make a donation please click on the PayPal donation which will take you direct to PayPal safely and securely.

Peer Education Programme

Housing Matters’ Peer Education Programme (PEP) uses real life experiences to dispel myths about homelessness and highlight the reality of living without permanent accommodation. In 2016, Housing Matters met 48 people aged 20 or under, including 23 who had left home due to breakdowns in family relationships.

The PEP has been made possible thanks to the generous sponsorship of developer Dandara, which has agreed to fund the project for an initial five years.

PEP is primarily aimed at 14 and 15-year-olds, although the content can be adapted for other audiences, and will be delivered in sessions in schools and to youth organisations across the Island. It will be led by Programme Coordinator Katie Farrall and are offered to any school or organisation interested in hosting a session. As the programme develops it is hoped former services users could attend to give first-hand accounts of their experiences.

Katie explained: ‘Every year Housing Matters is contacted by dozens of teenagers who are without permanent accommodation. The majority are sofa surfers, relying on friends, and many end up in entirely unsuitable accommodation, often overcrowded and with threats of intimidation. Sadly, some have no option but to sleep rough.

‘Most leave home because they feel they have no option following issues with their family; some want the “freedom” they think comes with not living with their parents. Some may have little idea of the reality of independent living, or the help and assistance available if they make that decision.’

‘The purpose of the Peer Education Programme is to show them that reality, so they are equipped to make informed decisions. We draw on the real life experiences of current and former service users, anonymised to protect confidentiality, to explain the reasons why they left home, what happened to them and where they found help.

‘We want to empower young people by providing them with the knowledge they need to make informed choices, and advice on the support available if their home life is untenable. This may be in partnership with Government departments and other agencies.’

To find out about hosting a PEP session, please contact us.

Our news and events

Housing Matters Isle of Man

Registered in the Isle of Man as a company limited by guarantee with number 121339C and as a charity with number 1007
Registered office: 3 Albany Lane, Douglas, Isle of Man
Council of Management: W.D. Mummery (Chairman), D.I. Bailey, C.S. Barr, E.J.Higgins, M.J.Hoy, J.A.Marshall, B. Wood, C.R.Farrall.

Patron: His Excellency Sir John Lorimer, KCB, DSO, MBE

Data protection privacy notice

Housing Matters Isle of Man is committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who uses our services, employees, and volunteers; and anyone who supports Housing Matters Isle of Man through donations or fundraising.

This notice explains what personal data we collect and process, how we collect it, with whom we share it, and why we do so. It also explains how we keep the data secure. If, after reading this Notice, you have any questions about it, or data processing in general, then please contact us using the details provided at the bottom of this Notice.

We will treat your data with respect and in accordance with the requirements of the Isle of Man Data Protection Act 2018 (also commonly referred to as the “Applied GDPR”).

This Notice is published by Housing Matters Isle of Man, a company limited by guarantee and incorporated under the laws of the Isle of Man under number 121339C and registered as a charity in the Isle of Man under number 1007.


What is Personal Data?
By “Personal Data” we mean any information about you that might allow you to be identified, such as your name, address, date of birth, IP address or voice recording. For service users and employees, some of this data may be sensitive such as information relating to their health and wellbeing.

When Housing Matters Isle of Man collects your Personal Data – and what Data is collected when you use our services
The Personal Data we collect might include name, address, email address, telephone numbers, date of birth, IP address, bank account details (for setting up regular direct debit or payment information).


Volunteering with us
If you volunteer with us, we will need to collect Personal Data such as your name, age, address, phone number and next of kin. We will also need to take up references and make an enquiry with the Disclosure and Barring Service for safeguarding purposes.

Service users
If you use our services, we will need to collect Personal Data such as your name, age, address and we may need sensitive personal data such as information concerning your health and wellbeing and your financial affairs. In order to provide complete care, we also collect some data about family members and carers. We will make it clear what Personal Data we need when the situation arises.


Working for us
If you apply for or take a job with us, we will store your contact data, bank details, and keep records of employment history. We will also need to take up references and make an enquiry with the Disclosure and Barring Service for safeguarding purposes. We may hold sensitive personal data such as information concerning your health and wellbeing.


Using our website
If you use our website, we store data about your internet browser, IP address, the timings of your visits and a record of which pages you looked at. Please refer to the “Cookies” section for more details.

When Personal Data is used by Housing Matters Isle of Man

We may use your Personal Data:

• For dealing with your enquiries, requests, complaints, and compliments.
• For processing your donations and orders made online.
• For providing you with information about our work, activities, events, and services.
• For complying with our legal obligations.
• Where we have a legitimate business reason, such as acting as an employer or for the delivery of our services to our service users in the prevention of homelessness.
• Where we have your informed consent – please refer to the “Your Consent” section.
• For providing and personalising our services.
• For administering membership records.
• For fundraising.
• For conducting market research.


Your Consent
Where there is no legal obligation or legitimate business reason for us to collect, process or store your Personal Data, we will request your consent. We will give a clear explanation of the purpose(s) for which your Personal Data is being collected, processed, and retained. Where consent is necessary, we will ask for it to be given by a positive “opt-in” choice. Sufficient information will be provided for an informed choice to be made. The Personal Data will not be used for any other purpose without additional consent being obtained. We will also make clear how consent can be withdrawn.


Keeping your Data secure
We have in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the Personal Data we collect.

All of our business partners have provided statements on how they keep your personal data safe and secure in compliance with the relevant data protection legislation.

All our employees, volunteers, and business partners, who have access to, and who are associated with the processing of Personal Data, are legally obliged to respect its confidentiality.

Sharing of Personal Data
Your Personal Data is not shared with other organisations unless we have your consent to share it or where we have a legal obligation, or legitimate business reason, to do so. Your Personal Data is not sold to any organisation. We do not normally transfer any Personal Data outside the Isle of Man.

Indirect collection of Personal Data
Your Personal Data may be legitimately have been provided to us by a third party (with whom we are obliged to share data). Although you may not have provided the Data, it remains your Personal Data and you maintain the same rights over it. Please see the “Your Rights” section.

Retention of Data
We will only retain Personal Data for as long as we have a legal, or legitimate business reason, for doing so. We will not retain Personal Data if you have exercised your right to have it erased unless we are legally obliged to retain it.

Cookies
A cookie is a small text file created by the web server and saved on your PC’s hard drive. The next time you visit the web site, the web server will check to see if you have this cookie. If you do, the web server will be able to read its contents. If you do not want to receive cookies or if you would prefer to be prompted first, you should check the settings in the “Internet Options” of your web browser. If you are not sure how to check or alter these settings, you should contact your software provider or support engineer.
Some information is held and processed by our Internet Service Provider and Mailchimp, but it only held and processed for and on our behalf and under our instruction.
Aggregate information is used to show us the total number of visits to our web site and which parts of the site are used the most. Aggregate information does not identify individuals, as it does not contain any personal data. This information helps us in developing our web site and improving the service we offer you.

If you are aged under 18
Although in respect of the services Housing Matters Isle of Man provides you may be classed as a child, you have the same rights as adults over your Personal Data. However, where your consent is required, we will seek from someone who has “parental consent” to ensure you do not mistakenly agree to us processing your Personal Data.


Changes to our Privacy Notice
This Notice may be amended in the light of any changes in legislation, or as the result of guidance from the Isle of Man Information Commissioner.


Your Rights
The Applied GDPR gives increased provision for individuals to exercise their rights, namely:

• The right to access to your Personal Data (through a ‘subject access request’)
• The right to the rectification of inaccurate Personal Data
• The right to request erasure of your Personal Data
• The right to seek a restriction on the Personal Data we process
• The right to Data portability. You can ask us to give another organisation the Personal Data we hold
• The right to object to our processing your Personal Data
• The right not to be subject to automated decision-making based solely on your Personal Data
• The right to complain about the way we have treated your Personal Data
It should be noted that these rights are not “absolute” and, whilst we make all reasonable efforts to comply with requests we receive, there may be reasons why the exercising of your right(s) cannot be complied with. If this is the case, we will tell you.

Exercising your Rights
If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us, using the details below.

How to contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Notice or the way we treat your Personal Data. You can contact us:
• By telephone: 01624 675507
• By email: info@housingmatters.im
• Or write to us at: Housing Matters Isle of Man, 3 Albany Lane, Douglas, Isle of Man IM2 3NS

The Charity has not appointed a Data Protection Officer but enquiries may be addressed to the Manager or to the Company Secretary.

If you are not happy
We would hope that any queries or concerns that you may have regarding our use of your Personal Data can be easily resolved; however, we do recognise that sometimes things can go wrong – or you may feel that we have not acted as you think we should have. If this is the case, or you do not want to raise the matter with us first, you have the right to make a complaint to a supervisory authority. In the Isle of Man, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office. Their contact details are as follows:

Isle of Man Information Commissioner
First Floor, Prospect House
Prospect Hill
Douglas
Isle of Man
IM1 1ET

Telephone: +44 (0) 1624 693260

You can also access their website: www.inforights.im