Advice on homelessness

Advice for homeless people and those threatened by homelessness is available from our Housing Options and Advice Service.. We will do everything we can to prevent you becoming homeless and to help you find housing which meets your needs.

The help the council has to provide to homeless people is set out in the Housing Act 1996 (Part VII) and it states that the council must advise and help anyone who is homeless or in danger of becoming homeless.

What is homelessness

The law says you are homeless if you meet any of the following conditions:

• You have nowhere to live
• You have been living somewhere, but you have no legal right to stay there and have been told to leave
• You have somewhere to live, but cannot get into it
• You have somewhere to live, but someone else who lives there has been violent towards you, or is likely to be violent towards you
• Your home is a caravan, or a houseboat and you have nowhere to legally park it, or moor it
• You have somewhere to live, but nowhere for the people who normally live with you
• You have been made homeless as a result of an emergency, such as fire, flood or some other disaster.

We will consider you to be threatened with homelessness if you are likely to become homeless within the next 28 days.

This may be because:

• You have been taken to court by your landlord and the court has said you must leave.
• You have been living with friends or relatives who have told you to leave.

Who is eligible for homelessness assistance

Certain people are not eligible for assistance under the homelessness legislation, for example, because you do not usually live in the UK or are subject to some form of immigration control.

You are likely to be eligible for assistance if:

• You usually live in the UK and are not subject to any form of immigration control.
• You usually live in the UK and are subject to immigration control, but your right to stay here is not subject to any time limit or condition(s).
• You have been given refugee status, or exceptional leave to remain here, as a result of an application for asylum.
• You are an asylum seeker who applied at port of entry when you first came to the UK and have not yet received a decision on your asylum application.
• You are an asylum seeker, who applied for asylum prior to 5th February 1996.

If you are not eligible under the above criteria you may still be entitled to help from Social Services.

What is priority need

You will be considered to be in priority need if you, or someone who normally lives with you, meet any of the following criteria:

• You are pregnant
• You have dependent children (under 16 or 17-19 who are in full time education) who normally live with you
• You are homeless or threatened with homelessness as a result of an emergency such as flood, fire or other disaster
• You are aged 16 or 17, not living with your parent or guardian, and not already being assisted by social services
• You are under 21 and were in care when you were 16 or 17
• You are vulnerable.

You will also have a priority need if you are vulnerable due to :

• Being elderly (over 60 years of age)
• Suffering from mental illness, disability, or physical illness
• Being at risk of domestic or other violence
• Being over 21 and having previously been in the care of Social Services or fostered
• Having served a custodial sentence or served in the armed forces.

When assessing whether you have a priority need due to being vulnerable we will apply a particular legal test which the Courts have developed.

Intentional homelessness

When assessing your application we will consider whether you became homeless or threatened with homelessness intentionally.

We will examine whether you or a member of your household did or fail to do something which directly led to you losing your last settled accommodation which was available to you and reasonable for you to continue to occupy. For example, failing to pay rent, engaging any form of anti-social behaviours.

We will also examine whether you entered into an arrangement with your host or landlord which resulted in you losing your home, the purpose of the arrangement being to enable you to obtain our assistance as a homeless person.

Local connection

To have a local connection you, or someone who normally lives with you, must meet one of the following:

• You have lived in the borough for six out of the last 12 months.
• You have lived in the borough for three out of the last five years.

You will not be considered as having a local connection with this borough if you have been provided with temporary accommodation by another council within Lambeth and have lived in it for less than five years.

• You have permanent employment in the borough.
• You have a close relative who has lived in the borough for the last five years. Close relatives include parents, children, brothers or sisters.
• There may be other exceptional circumstances which the council will accept as a local connection.

We may refer you to another council and ask them to assist you, if:

• You have no local connection with Lambeth, but do have a local connection with the other council.
• You made a homeless application to another borough in the last five years and were placed in Lambeth by that borough.

Under such circumstances we have to make sure that the other council has agreed to help you before asking you to go there. While these arrangements are being made, we will offer you interim accommodation if this is required. (Interim accommodation is accommodation provided whilst we are carrying out our enquiries).

We will not ask you to return to an area where you have experienced, or are likely to experience, violence.

If you have no connection with any area, we may still have a duty to house you or help you to obtain accommodation.

Preventing homelessness

If you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless you should can get advice from our Housing Options and Advice centre. You may also find our options for finding a home page useful.