The Homeless Process

Housing Options will carry out detailed and thorough enquiries. Every case is looked at individually and may involve contact with other agencies and people involved with you and your situation.

We will need you to provide all necessary information to enable us to enable us to assist you effectively. Required Information will include:

• Your name and address;
•  Names and ages of the people who normally live with you; (birth certificates should be provided for proof);
• Proof that your children live with you (benefit award letters would confirm this);
• Details of any medical condition (a copy of your prescription would really help);
• All previous addresses and type of tenure eg: private rented, sharing with family
• All income and capital, (wage slips, bank statements, benefit award letters;)
• Employment details;
• All outgoing financial commitments (rent books, mortgage statements, loans, etc);
• Where violence is alleged, a report from police, solicitor and/or doctors would help but is not mandatory.
• Where relevant, Home Office information if you are subject to immigration control, passport and visa documents. 

If you are unable to gather documents together please contact us and we discuss this during your interview.  Not having access to documents should not stop you from approaching us.

After you've made an application you will be invited to an interview to discuss your application.

The interview is informal and is an opportunity for you to let us know more details of your case. During the meeting we will ask you the following questions:

• Why are you homeless or threatened with homelessness?
• Do you have any documents or contacts to support this?
• Do you have dependents and/or have a medical issue?
• What is your current financial situation?
• Do you have any family or friends that can provide support?
• Are there any risks and how can we manage them with you?
• Your address history

When you come to the interview it is important that you bring the right documents with you, otherwise you may not be able to get the help you need.

You will get a letter when you book your interview, this will either be on paper or e-mailed to you. This pack will tell you what documents to provide. 

During the interview, you will be given the name and contact details of your Housing Options Officer.

We will also discuss with you about any referrals to support agencies that may be able to assist you.

For more information on the homelessness interview, you can look at the Shelter website in the ‘How to make a homeless application’ section. 

Next Steps

During your interview, your Housing Options Officer will run through a number of options with you. This could include:

• Options to help you stay in the property if safe to do so, including safety measures, paying of rent arrears or negotiating with your landlord.
• Looking at realistic alternative housing options, including supported accommodation, private renting and if the housing register is a viable option for your needs. 
• Signposting you to the right agencies at the right time.
• Looking at your financial situation to see if there's anything we can do to assist
• You will be given a Personalised Housing Plan which will detail the actions discussed to prevent your homelessness.  

We will expect you to keep in regular contact with your housing options officer and discuss with them any difficulties you may have in achieving the actions set out for you in your Personalised Housing Plan. 

After the interview we may have to make further enquiries. This will only be done where it is safe to do so. Our enquiries will be to establish the following: 

• Your eligibility - are you entitled to assistance, as prescribed by law?
• Are you Homeless? – is there anywhere you are entitled to live that is both reasonable and suitable for you to occupy?
• Are you in a "priority need"? – are you considered to be in a “priority” group, as prescribed by law?
• Why are you homeless? – did you deliberately do or fail to do something that led to you losing your home?

We will then decide whether the rules of "Local Connection" apply in your situation.  Your housing officer will explain this to you.

Once we have carried out all our enquiries we will assess if we have a duty to you.

Prevention Duty  

If it appears that the threat of homelessness can be resolved and action put in place by the Housing Options Team that would enable you to remain within your present home, a ‘Prevention Duty’ will be offered to you and we will draw up a plan of action which will be agreed between Housing Options and yourself and confirmed in a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP). This Prevention Duty will last for a 56 day period and if we achieve a positive outcome and you are able to remain within your accommodation for a minimum of at least 6 months, the duty will end.

Relief Duty  

If we are not able to prevent the threat of homelessness, Housing Options will then work to relieve your homelessness and find you suitable, alternative accommodation. In this situation you will be offered a ‘Relief Duty’ which will initially run for 56 days whilst action is taken to secure you an alternative home.

Certain criteria will need to be met for a relief duty to be offered to you and you will need to be:  

• Eligible for assistance
• Homeless or with a threat of homelessness within 56 days
• Have a local connection to Melton borough

You must be aware that we are able to discharge our duty to you if we are successful in securing you accommodation that is considered suitable for your needs. This could be a private tenancy, supported accommodation or even accommodation with friends or relatives if negotiated for a minimum 6 month period.

Interim accommodation

If you have been told the council owed you a relief duty and we have reason to believe you are in priority need, we have a duty to provide you with temporary accommodation whilst our enquiries are completed.

Not everyone will be provided with temporary accommodation as the criteria only applies to certain groups of individuals:

• Pregnant or with dependent children resident with you on a permanent basis
• Care Leavers
• Homeless through emergency fire/flood etc.
• Any person determined as vulnerable through old age, physical or learning disability, mental health problems, fleeing violence or domestic abuse, time in care, prison or HM forces

You are not automatically vulnerable if you fit into one of these groups and further assessment of your needs and limitations will be assessed by the Housing Options Team before temporary accommodation may be provided for you. 

Temporary accommodation can be in the form of:

• hostels,
• shared accommodation,
• bed and breakfast or
• council’s own properties (furnished or unfurnished). 

If you are not considered to be in “Priority Need”, the Council does not have to provide you with accommodation whilst we support you to resolve your housing issue.  

We will however, provide you with information on emergency accommodation options that are available such as hostels. Due to the rural nature of our district it is unlikely that this will be available locally, but we will establish the best options available in the surrounding areas. 

Please note that social housing is only one of the options available to those seeking alternative accommodation and may not be an option for everyone. The Duties to prevent and relieve your homelessness are separate to the Melton Home Search and the Housing Options Team will determine if this is a possible solution for you.

Intentionally Homeless

During a Relief Duty you will be provided with support regardless of whether your situation was caused or contributed to by your own deliberate actions. However, such factors may have a bearing on the options available to you and you may not be entitled to any preference through the housing register if Intentionally Homeless applies to you.
Once the 56 day Relief Duty ends, if we have been unsuccessful in resolving your accommodation needs and are unlikely to be successful in doing so, a full duty homeless application can be offered to you.

Statutory Homeless Duty

This will only apply after the council have worked with you and have been unable to prevent you from becoming homeless.

This is also known as a full homeless duty.

The full homeless duty is only considered once all other options have been exhausted and are only offered in exceptional circumstances, where efforts to resolve your housing needs through Relief Duties have been unsuccessful. This means we will ensure accommodation is available to you but might mean you have to stay in temporary accommodation longer until a suitable property comes available.

If at any time you refuse an offer of suitable accommodation, the Council may discharge their duty to you. This means that you will not be offered another property and you will have to make your own arrangements and find alternative accommodation. 

The Council’s duty to secure you accommodation will end if the following circumstances occur:

• You refuse an offer of alternative suitable temporary accommodation.
• You refuse an offer of suitable accommodation from the housing register.
• You accept an offer of an assured tenancy.
• You accept an offer of a qualifying assured short hold tenancy .
• You cease to be eligible for assistance.
• You become homeless intentionally from your current accommodation.

Never refuse an offer of accommodation without getting advice first. You can ask for a review about an offer of accommodation if you are not happy, which the Housing Options Team will explain to you. Shelter has some advice on final offers of housing when homeless.

No Housing Duty but Assistance to help you find your own

If the Council does not have to provide you with accommodation, it does not mean we will not help you at all.  We will provide you with information, advice and assistance to help you find your own accommodation, please see Section “Other Assistance”

The Council has a range of advice and practical assistance to help people either secure alternative accommodation or help them stay in their existing homes this includes but is not limited to:

Information on other housing providers:

• Arranging applications and interviews with other housing providers
• Information on renting in the private sector
• Paying rent in advance or providing a guarantee for deposits
• Paying administration or credit check fees for letting agents
• Arranging transport to access accommodation
• Referral to the council’s Community Support Hub
• Carry out security works recommended by the Police
• Negotiating with landlords, mortgage lenders, family and friends
• Referrals to MADMAC, CAB or other Money Advice Services to help with debts and agreeing payments to lenders

As part of the homeless process will we provide you with the appropriate assistance and guidance to assistance to help with your move, such as support in registering for schools and GP's, access to domestic abuse services, if required.

We will provide storage for any belongings that cant be accommodated elsewhere as well as offering financial assistance for deposits, rent in advance to secure accommodation for you. 

If you disagree with the decision made in relation to your case, you have a right to request a review.  

This request must be made in writing within 21 days of the date on the decision letter. The Council may specify in writing a longer period of time.  The Council must then complete a review and notify you of that decision under the review within 56 days of your written request.

If you are still not satisfied with the original decision, you have a further right to appeal to the County Court on any point of law arising from the decision. The appeal must be brought within 21 days of you receiving your notification of the review decision, you will probably need assistance to do this, please see who can help below.