Help for homeless people

I am homeless. Can I get any help?

The Council has a legal duty under the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 to help you if you at risk of homelessness within the next 56 days or have nowhere to live now.  The type and amount of help that we can provide depends upon your circumstances but we will provide you with advice and assistance wherever possible.

Our first duty is to prevent you from becoming homeless but if this is not possible we have a duty to help you to find alternative accommodation.  These duties are called the 'prevention duty' (section 195 of the Homeless Reduction Act 2017) and the 'relief duty' (section 189B of the Homeless Reduction Act 2017).

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness within the next 56 days you should visit one of our Customer Service Centres and ask them to complete a homelessness form for you, or you can telephone (01482) 393939 and they will complete one for you over the phone.

Our homelessness officers can provide more specialist advice to owner-occupiers who are struggling to pay their mortgages or to private tenants who are at risk of losing their tenancies.

Email: housing.services@eastriding.gov.uk

Tel: (01482) 396301

Preventing homelessness

We will carry out an assessment of your housing situation, and agree on a personal housing plan with you to prevent your homelessness. The prevention duty lasts for 56 days and can end if:

• we help you keep your home
• we help you find alternative accommodation
• you refuse an offer of accommodation
• you do not carry out the requirements of your personal housing plan
• you cease to be eligible or withdraw your application
• you lose contact with us.

Relieving homelessness

We will carry out an assessment of your housing situation, and agree on a personal housing plan with you to relieve your homelessness. The relief duty lasts for 56 days and can end if:

• we help you find alternative accommodation
• you refuse an offer of accommodation
• you do not carry out the requirements of your personal housing plan
• you cease to be eligible or withdraw your application
• you lose contact with us.

Homelessness Full Duty

If we cannot help you keep your home or find alternative accommodation then you will be assessed under the Housing Act 1996, when the 56 day relief duty has ended.  We will only have a duty to rehouse you if:

• you are eligible for assistance (in accordance with section 185 of the Housing Act 1996) and
• you are homeless (in accordance with section 175 of the Housing Act 1996) and
• you are not homeless intentionally (i.e. you have not deliberately done or failed to do something that led to you lose your home - in accordance with section 191 of the Housing Act 1996) and
• you are in priority need e.g. a family with children, a care leaver or someone who is vulnerable due to old age (in accordance with section 189 of the Housing Act 1996) and
• you have a local connection to the East Riding (in accordance with section 193 of the Housing Act 1996).

If you need to leave your home immediately as a result of domestic violence or anti-social behaviour, then during normal office hours go to your nearest customer service centre or contact your area housing office.

Tel: (01482) 396301
Tel: (01377) 241273 out of normal office hours.

If your life is at risk you should ring the police.

If we have reason to believe that you are homeless and in priority need, and you do not have anywhere to stay, then we may provide you with temporary accommodation – this may be while we continue to help you find alternative accommodation, until a decision can be made on your application or until permanent accommodation can be secured.

If you do not fulfil each of the basic criteria (i.e. you are not homeless, not eligible for assistance or in priority need, or you are intentionally homeless) then our duty will be limited to the provision of advice and assistance. We may provide temporary accommodation for a limited time while you secure your own accommodation.

If you are facing homelessness for financial reasons our Money Advice Team offer a service for our customers who are struggling with rent and/or council tax payments or repaying overpaid housing benefit. They can negotiate repayment rates and offer debt and budgeting advice, as well as carrying out benefit checks. 

How do I make a homeless application?

If you have nowhere to live, or are unable to continue to live at your current address, we may have a responsibility to help you find alternative suitable accommodation. The housing act 1996 sets out the type of help we can give you depending on whether you are homeless and have a priority for housing, as defined by the act.

You will need to make an appointment for a housing options interview at your nearest customer service centre. A housing officer will discuss your housing need, and if necessary undertake a homeless application with you, and complete a housing application form. You can complete a housing application form and area list before your interview.

You can download and print the forms from the following pdf documents.

Housing Application Form (pdf 170kb)

Housing Application Area List (pdf 545kb)

You must complete and return both forms. They can be handed in at any Customer Service Centre or return them to:

East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Housing Services 
County Hall
Cross Street
Beverley
East Riding of Yorkshire
HU17 9BA.

If a homeless application is made, we will investigate your circumstances and endeavour to provide you with a decision in writing as to what duty is owed to you within 33 working days.

If we have reason to believe that you are homeless and in priority need, and you do not have anywhere to stay, then we may provide you with temporary accommodation – this can be until a decision can be made on your application or permanent accommodation secured.

If you do not fulfil each of the basic criteria (i.e. you are not homeless, not eligible for assistance or in priority need, or you are intentionally homeless) then our duty will be limited to the provision of advice and assistance. We may provide temporary accommodation for a limited time while you secure your own accommodation.

If you disagree with our decision regarding your situation, then you have a right to ask for a review of that decision. You must request this review in writing within 21 days of receiving the decision letter, contact information will be included in the decision letter.

My parents want to kick me out, can I get a council home?

We receive a lot of homeless applications from young people who have been asked to leave their family home and have nowhere to go. In the majority of cases, our obligation is to provide advice and assistance only, as you do not have a priority need for rehousing (as defined by the housing act 1996).

You may, however, be eligible to register on the housing waiting list by completing a Housing Application Form, and may qualify for a property under our housing allocation policy. 

To apply for housing you need to complete a housing application form and area list. You can download and print the forms from the following pdf documents.

Housing Application Form (pdf 170kb)

Housing Application Area List (pdf 545kb)

You must complete and return both forms. They can be handed in at any Customer Service Centre or return them to:

East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Housing Services 
County Hall  
Beverley
HU17 9BA

You can also obtain a form by e-mailing your request to housing.services@eastriding.gov.uk or by telephoning (01482) 396301.

We may have a wider responsibility to some 16/17 year-olds or young people who have been in care, and in these cases we will liaise with colleagues in children's services.

I’m facing eviction from HM armed forces family accommodation, can I get any help?

If you are ex-armed forces personnel and are facing eviction from service family accommodation, you should ensure that you have a copy of the ‘certificate of cessation of entitlement to occupy service family accommodation’ and contact your area housing office for advice.

Email:  housing.services@eastriding.gov.uk 
Tel: (01482) 396301

Advice Organisations for Ex-Armed Forces Personnel

If you accept me as homeless, can I choose where I get rehoused?

Where we accept that we have a legal duty to help you, we will make you one offer of accommodation, however, please be aware that due to the limited number of vacancies, the offered accommodation may not be in your preferred location, though we will try wherever possible to ensure that it is. The accommodation could be in the form of council, housing association or private rented housing, or indeed a referral to another local authority.

If you feel that the accommodation offered is not suitable, you may ask for a review of its suitability. Where you refuse the offer of accommodation, we may consider that we have fulfilled our duty to you (subject to the outcome of any review) and our obligation to you will be to provide advice and assistance only. If you are in temporary accommodation you will be asked to leave.

I’m homeless, will I be offered temporary accommodation?

If you are homeless (as defined by legislation), have nowhere to stay, and you have been accepted as in priority need (or we think you may have priority need) we may provide you with temporary accommodation. There are four circumstances where this may happen:

• we have not yet made a decision on your homeless application
• we have accepted a duty to rehouse you but do not have any suitable accommodation to offer immediately
• we have decided that you became homeless intentionally. In these circumstances, temporary accommodation will be provided for a reasonable period
• we have decided that you do not have a local connection with this area, and we are waiting for the outcome of a referral to another authority.

We will arrange the accommodation for you but you will be responsible for the cost, you may be able to obtain housing benefit to help you pay the rent.

Due to demand for accommodation, we may place you anywhere within the East Riding of Yorkshire, however, we will take into account relevant circumstances such as place of work or location of schools.

Should you lose the temporary accommodation through your own fault, for example by failing to pay any relevant charges, or failing to occupy the accommodation, we may discharge our interim duty to you - this means that we will not provide you with any further temporary accommodation.

If you refuse the temporary accommodation without a valid reason, we will not provide any other accommodation and you will have to make your own arrangements. However, we will continue with your homeless application until we have fulfilled our duty towards you.

If you make your own arrangements for temporary accommodation, you should provide us with your contact details so that we can send out your decision letter.