Am I eligible for a housing allocation or help if I am homeless?
This page covers the whole of the UK
Contents:
What this page is about
This page describes how your immigration status or protected European Union rights determine if you are eligible:
- for housing if you are homeless from your local council or (in Northern Ireland) the Housing Executive, or
- to join your local council’s/Housing Executive’s allocation scheme (i.e. housing register or waiting list) for a council or housing association tenancy.
Your rights to these depend on whether you are an EEA national or from outside the EEA. This page also tells you about your right to advice if you are at risk of becoming homeless and other ways to find housing if you are not eligible.
The right to advice and information for homeless people
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the local council/Housing Executive must provide free advice and information to help you avoid homelessness if you are at risk, or to help you find accommodation if you are homeless. This right applies regardless of your immigration status. In England and Wales, councils must also ensure that certain groups including people leaving hospital or council care, can access this advice and information.
Who is eligible for housing and homelessness assistance
This section explains whether you are eligible for housing or homelessness assistance based on your own status, without considering other household members. If everyone on the application is eligible, any eligible person can apply and your household’s needs will be assessed together. If one or more household members is ineligible, see the section on households with mixed eligibility.
British citizens, Irish citizens and long-term Commonwealth residents
If you are a British or Irish citizen, or a Commonwealth citizen who is free from immigration control, you are eligible for housing and homelessness assistance in Scotland. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you are also eligible if you are habitually resident or exempt from that requirement.
If you are the family member of a British or Irish citizen, you may be eligible in your own right if you have experienced domestic abuse or if you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme. See the British and Irish family members page for more details.
European nationals
If you are an EEA national or an EEA family member you are eligible for housing if:
- you have been granted settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you are ‘habitually resident’, or
- you have been granted EU pre-settled status, and you have an EEA ‘right to reside’ that qualifies you for housing, or
- you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme on time but are still waiting for a decision and you have an EEA ‘right to reside’ that qualifies you for housing.
If you have not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme you may have lost your right to live in the UK and should seek advice immediately from a registered immigration adviser or approved professional.
You have an EEA right to reside that qualifies you for housing if:
- you are a worker or frontier worker, or
- you are a self-employed person, or
- you have retained your status as a worker/frontier worker/self-employed person due to sickness or unemployment etc., or
- you have retained worker or self-employed status as a retired person, or
- in certain circumstances, you are studying or you are self-sufficient, or
- you have acquired the right to reside through long-term residence in which you were exercising one of the rights above, or
- you are the family member of an eligible EEA national who has one of the rights above (even if you are not an EEA national yourself), or
- in Scotland only, you have a right to reside as a jobseeker or as a parent of a British child.
Except in Scotland, you must also be habitually resident unless you are a worker, frontier worker, self-employed person or a family member of one of these.
People from outside the EEA
If you are a citizen of a country from outside the EEA, you are generally subject to immigration control and you are disqualified from help with housing, unless you fall into one of these categories:
- you have indefinite leave to remain (settled status) and you are habitually resident
- following your claim for asylum you have been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection
- following your claim for asylum you were given leave outside the rules (LOTR) as an unaccompanied minor
- you have been granted temporary permission to stay as a victim or survivor of human trafficking or slavery
- you have five years' limited leave as a stateless person and you are habitually resident
- you are the partner or former partner of a British citizen or settled person and you have been given three months' concessionary leave due to domestic abuse
- you are the spouse or former spouse of a British citizen or settled person who was deliberately abandoned by them overseas and you have been given leave to enter the UK on that basis
- you left Ukraine due to the Russian invasion or were already resident in the UK when it started and have been granted leave with access to public funds under one of the schemes for Ukrainian refugees
- you are an Afghan citizen who entered the UK under one of the special programmes for Afghan refugees
- you have limited leave to enter or remain with access to public funds granted because of your family or private life
- you are from Hong Kong, entered the UK on a British National (Overseas) visa, have successfully applied for access to public funds, and are habitually resident
- you were initially granted limited leave and, after making a change of conditions application, were given access to public funds
- you arrived from a country or territory within six months of the UK government advising British nationals to leave or arranging their evacuation, and you have been granted leave without a sponsor and with access to public funds
- you left Sudan on or after 15 April 2023 due to the escalating violence and have been given leave without a sponsor and with access to public funds
- you left Israel, Palestine or Lebanon on or after 7 October 2023 due to the escalating violence and have been given leave without a sponsor and with access to public funds
- in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, you have EU pre-settled status as the family member of a person from Northern Ireland and you are a worker or self-employed person or the family member of such a person.
In any other case if you are from outside the EEA, including if you have limited leave, you are not eligible for housing and homelessness help.
Households with mixed eligibility
This section explains how eligibility for housing or homelessness assistance is assessed when one or more household members is ineligible. An eligible adult must make the application, and the rules for assessment depend on whether you are applying for housing or homelessness assistance.
Applications for housing
If you apply for housing, you cannot be offered a joint tenancy unless you are eligible in one of the ways described on this page or you are already a council/Housing Executive tenant.
If you are eligible but someone in your household, other than a child, does not have access to public funds, the council/Housing Executive must ignore their homelessness when deciding your housing priority. However, it must still consider them under its own rules when assessing priority for welfare or medical reasons, or because your housing conditions are unsatisfactory.
Applications for homelessness assistance
This applies if you are:
- a British or Irish citizen, or
- a Commonwealth citizen who is free from immigration control, or
- an EEA national with EU settled or pre-settled status.
If you would only be homeless, or in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have priority need, because someone in your household with no access to public funds is included, the council/Housing Executive can meet its duty by offering you a private rented tenancy. It must write to you explaining its decision.
If you are from outside the EEA and are eligible, but your homelessness or priority need depends only on including someone in your household who has no access to public funds, the council/Housing Executive must disregard that person when making its decision. It is not required to offer you permanent accommodation, but it must provide emergency accommodation while it investigates and until it reaches a decision.
Other housing services for people who are not eligible
If you are not eligible for housing from the council/Housing Executive you may be able to rent from a private landlord. In an emergency, you may be able to get accommodation from social services if you have social care needs, if you have children or if you are fleeing domestic violence. In any other case you may be able to get help from a charity if you are homeless and destitute.
