How do I apply as homeless to my local council?
Contents:
Applying as homeless to a local council in Scotland
In Scotland, local councils have a responsibility to provide temporary accommodation and help you find long-term accommodation if you are homeless and make an application for assistance. Local councils only have a duty to assist you if:
- you are eligible; and
- you are legally homeless or threatened with homelessness within two months (i.e. you have nowhere in the UK or elsewhere where you can reasonably live); and either
- you have a local connection with the council's area (such as work, previous residence or family members living there), or
- you have no connection with any area.
Councils may also decide that you (the applicant) are intentionally homeless (for example, you failed to pay rent or gave up a home where you reasonably could have lived).
If you 'fail' one or more of these tests, there may be some other help offered. For example:
- councils have to provide advice and information about homelessness, how you can prevent it and any services which may assist you, free of charge if you need it, whether you are eligible, intentionally homeless, or not
- if you are intentionally homeless you must be offered a limited period in temporary accommodation
- if you have a local connection with another council you are referred to that other council for further help.
Applications for homelessness help can be made to any council in Scotland.
If the council has reason to believe that you may be eligible and homeless, they have to provide emergency accommodation while they investigate the case further, whether you have a local connection with them or not.
If the case is an emergency, they will make arrangements to provide accommodation overnight or at weekends until offices open again to take the application. In an emergency, this service can be found by:
- phoning the council's central number
- contacting the local police
- contacting Shelter's free advice helpline - 0808 800 4444 (open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday).
In most cases people wanting help from the council will need to provide evidence of identity of all in the household, of their immigration status and of where they have lived before. An explanation of the types of documents that are needed is here. If the documents are not available for good reason, the council officer may want to see some other form of secure ID and get permission to contact the Home Office (where appropriate) to check on immigration status.
Where someone is only entitled to limited help as homeless (for example, because they are intentionally homeless), they can still go on the council waiting list or housing register.
Applying as homeless to the Housing Executive in Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, the Housing Executive has responsibility to provide temporary accommodation and help you find long-term accommodation if you are homeless and make an application for assistance. The Housing Executive has a duty to assist you if:
- you are eligible (see below if you are eligible but a member of your household is not)
- you are legally homeless or threatened with homelessness within 28 days (i.e. you have nowhere in the UK or elsewhere where you can reasonably live)
- you have a ‘priority need’ for housing and
- you have not become homeless intentionally (for example if you failed to pay rent.
The Executive may also decide that you are ineligible for assistance because of your unacceptable behaviour which, had you been a tenant of theirs, would be sufficiently serious to allow the Executive to recover possession.
You will have a priority need if:
- you (or a household member) are pregnant
- you (or a household member) are responsible for a child
- you (or a household member) are less able to cope due to old age, mental illness, disability or other special reason
- you are homeless or threatened with homelessness because of an emergency (e.g. fire, flood)
- you are at risk of violence (e.g. domestic abuse), or
- you are aged 16 to 20 and at risk of financial or sexual exploitation.
If you 'fail' to meet one or more of these tests, there may be some other help offered. For example:
- if you are in priority need but intentionally homeless, you must be offered a limited period in temporary accommodation and be provided with advice and assistance to help you find permanent accommodation
- if you are only homeless or in priority need because of an ineligible person who is part of your household, the Executive will make you a reasonable offer of private rented housing.
Your application does not have to take a particular form. You can call the Executive to ask for help on 03448 920 908 during or outside office hours.
