If you are homeless today, you will speak with a duty Housing Advisor who will assess your situation by asking questions about your current and previous housing circumstances. They will also ask you questions about your household needs, support needs and your household income.
If you have nowhere to stay tonight, your situation will be assessed and the Advisor will decide if the Council has a duty to provide you with interim accommodation. This will depend on whether we have reason to believe that you (or someone in your household) may have a “priority need". Under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, interim accommodation will only have to be provided to certain qualifying households. The Council will usually provide a household with interim accommodation if we believe that a member of the household has a “priority need".
What is a Priority Need?
A priority need is a specific reason why the Council must provide you with assistance if you are homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days. You automatically have a priority need if:
- You are pregnant.
- You have dependent children living with you.
- You are experiencing domestic abuse.
- You have lost your accommodation because of a fire, flood or other disaster.
- You are 16 or 17 years old and are not looked after by Children's Services.
- You are a Care Leaver aged between 18 and 20 years old.
You might have a priority need if you or someone living with you is vulnerable for one of these reasons:
- You have a mental health problem.
- You are disabled or have a serious health condition.
- You have previously been in prison for a long time.
- You have been in the Armed Forces.
- You are over 21 and have previously been in care.
- You are of old age and frail.
If you do not fall into one of the automatic priority need categories, the duty Housing Advisor will ask you further questions about your circumstances to determine whether you are “significantly more vulnerable than an ordinary person would be if they became homeless"*. These questions will be an important part of the assessment process for the duty Housing Advisor, because the Homelessness Code of Guidance outlines that it “is a matter of evaluative judgement whether the applicant's circumstances make them vulnerable"*.
More information about priority need can be found on Shelter's website: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/priority_need
Interim Accommodation
Councils do not have a legal duty to provide interim accommodation or temporary accommodation to everyone who presents, even if their homelessness is not through any fault of their own.
If the duty Housing Advisor is satisfied that you require interim accommodation or temporary accommodation and that you meet the conditions for this under homelessness legislation, they will try to identify what accommodation is available and appropriate for your household within the Stratford district (where possible).
*Taken from the Homelessness Code of Guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-8-priority-need
