Homelessness

• you are a visitor to this country
• you are a student from another country or a sponsored immigrant
• you are an illegal immigrant
• you are seeking asylum
• you claimed asylum but the Home Office refused to give you asylum
• you are not habitually resident in the UK or Ireland
• the Home Secretary has said you no longer have a right to stay in the UK.

Priority need

You may have a priority need for housing if any of the following apply to you or to a member of your household:

• You are pregnant
• You are 16 or 17 years old
• Someone in your household is under 18 years of age (or under 19 if they are in full-time secondary education)
• You are 18 to 21 years of age and as a child you were placed in Social Services' care
• You are homeless because of fire, flood or a similar disaster
• You are aged 60 or older
• You have a mental illness or disability which makes you vulnerable
• You have a physical disability which makes you vulnerable
• When you were a child you were placed in the care of a local authority, a health authority, foster parents, a children's home or a care home and this has made you vulnerable
• You have been in this country's Armed Forces and this has made you vulnerable
• You have been in prison or remanded in custody and this has made you vulnerable
• You have left your home because of violence or threats of violence and this has made you vulnerable
• You are vulnerable for another special reason.

To be vulnerable means you cannot fend for yourself so that you will suffer injury or harm where a less vulnerable person would not.

The person(s) with the priority need must also be eligible for assistance.

Intentional homelessness

You may be intentionally homeless if you lost your home as a result of something you have deliberately done, or failed to do. It is impossible to list all the ways you could become homeless intentionally.  However, one of the most common ways is if you are evicted from your home because you did not pay your rent when you could have. Another is if you give up your home when it is reasonable for you to continue living there. You will be intentionally homeless if we find that you have made-up a situation with your landlord, parent or friend where you have been asked to leave your accommodation, in order to obtain housing via the council.

Local connection

If you are unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need for housing, you are entitled to housing from a local authority. In this case, we must offer you a home if you are connected to the Forest Heath district.  If you have no local connection, we must refer to a council you are connected to for it to find you a home. We may offer you a home if any of the following apply:

• You have a connection with Forest Heath because you have lived here in settled accommodation for at least six out of the last 12 months
• You have a connection with Forest Heath because you have a close relative (parent, child, brother or sister) who has lived in Forest Heath for the past five years
• You have a permanent job in Forest Heath
• You are connected to Forest Heath for some other special reason
• You have a local connection with another area, but someone in your application might experience domestic violence if they return there
• You are not connected to any council in this country, for example, if you have recently come here from abroad.

If none of these apply to you we will refer you to a council to which you are connected. We will not force 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.

How to apply

If you think you might become homeless, please make contact with the Housing Options team as soon as possible, so that we can try to prevent you from losing your home. Please have available the following documents:

• Proof of identity for all the people in your household
• Proof of income
• Documents concerning the loss of your housing, for example, letters from your landlord or the court informing you that you must leave
• Details of where you have lived for the past five years
• If relevant, documents confirming that you are married or divorced, you have custody of children, you are pregnant or you are asking for, or have been given, asylum.

What happens next

If you are in immediate need of housing, we may provide you with emergency accommodation. It is likely that this interim accommodation will be in a bed and breakfast or a hostel, since we have limited access to temporary accommodation. We will make every effort to place you and any family locally, but this is not always possible and is dependent upon availability of accommodation.

Our decision

We are required to make enquiries into your case. This is to help us decide what help we are able to give you. We will inform you in writing of the decision on your application. The decision letter will detail the outcome of your application and the reasons for the decision. The decision letter will also inform you of the right to request a review. Review requests must be received in writing within 21 days of the date of the decision letter.