How to Get Council Help if You Are Homeless or About to Lose Your Home
Ask your council for homelessness help if you have nowhere suitable to live or expect to lose your home, including prevention, emergency and longer-term housing support.
GB United Kingdom
Housing & Property ~ 14 min read
17 FAQ
Updated 2026-09-10
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In England, contact your local council's homelessness or housing team as soon as possible if you are homeless or likely to become homeless within 56 days. You do not need to be sleeping on the street: you may be legally homeless if you cannot safely or reasonably stay in your home, cannot access it or have no suitable accommodation for your household. The council must assess eligible applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and create a personalised housing plan. If you are already homeless, eligible for assistance and the council has reason to believe you may have a priority need, it must secure interim accommodation while it investigates. There is no fee to ask a council for homelessness assistance. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have separate homelessness systems, so use the relevant local authority or Northern Ireland Housing Executive service instead of the England process.
What you need
- Contact the local council housing or homelessness service if you are homeless or believe you may become homeless.
- For England's statutory prevention duty, you normally need to be threatened with homelessness within 56 days and eligible for assistance.
- Give the council accurate information about where you live now, why you may lose or cannot remain in the accommodation, who lives with you and your housing and support needs.
- Provide relevant documents you have, such as identification, tenancy or licence documents, eviction or possession notices, rent information, evidence of income or benefits, and medical or support evidence where relevant. Do not delay asking for urgent help solely because you do not yet have every document.
- Tell the council immediately if you have nowhere safe to stay tonight, are pregnant, have dependent children, are affected by domestic abuse, have a disability or serious health condition, or have another circumstance that may create priority need.
- If you are outside England, use the separate homelessness process for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Eligibility
In England, a council must consider a homelessness application where it has reason to believe a person may be homeless or threatened with homelessness. Statutory prevention and relief duties depend on eligibility for assistance, which can be affected by immigration and residence status. If eligible and threatened with homelessness within 56 days, the council has a prevention duty; if eligible and already homeless, it has a relief duty. Priority need is not required for those prevention and relief duties, although it is important when deciding whether interim accommodation and, later, the main housing duty are owed. Even a person who is not eligible for statutory homelessness assistance because of immigration status can access the council's free homelessness advice and information service.
How to do it
- Contact the council as early as possible. In England, ask the local housing authority for homelessness assistance if you are already homeless or expect to lose your accommodation within 56 days.
- Explain if the situation is urgent. Tell the council if you have nowhere safe to sleep, face violence or domestic abuse, have children, are pregnant, have significant health or disability needs or otherwise may have priority need.
- Give the council the facts about your housing. Explain where you currently stay, why you cannot remain there or when it will end, who is in your household and any support needs.
- Provide available evidence. Give the council relevant tenancy documents, possession or eviction notices, identification and evidence relating to your household, finances, health or safety where applicable.
- Complete the homelessness assessment. If the council has reason to believe you may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, it must investigate whether you are homeless or threatened with homelessness and whether you are eligible for assistance.
- Work through your personalised housing plan. If you are eligible and homeless or threatened with homelessness, the council must assess your housing and support needs and give you a written personalised housing plan setting out reasonable steps for you and the council.
- Ask about emergency accommodation if you are homeless now. In England, if the council has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible and in priority need, it must secure interim accommodation while the relevant inquiries are made.
- Follow the prevention or relief plan. The council may try to keep you in your existing home where appropriate or help you secure another suitable home.
- Read every written decision. Check what duty the council says it owes you and the reasons for any adverse decision.
- Request a review promptly if you disagree. Many reviewable homelessness decisions in England must normally be challenged within 21 days of notification.
When should you ask the council for homelessness help?
In England, contact your council as soon as you are homeless or think you may lose your home. The statutory prevention duty applies where an eligible person is threatened with homelessness within 56 days.
You do not have to wait until an eviction is complete or until you are sleeping outside. Early contact gives the council more opportunity to prevent homelessness.
You can be homeless even if you have a roof over your head
Homelessness does not only mean rough sleeping. GOV.UK explains that you may be legally homeless if, for example:
- you have no legal right to occupy accommodation anywhere;
- you cannot get into your home;
- it is not reasonable for you to continue living there because of violence or abuse;
- your household is forced to live apart because there is no suitable accommodation together; or
- your accommodation circumstances mean you meet the statutory homelessness test.
Tell the council what your actual living arrangements are, even if you are temporarily staying with friends or relatives.
How do you make a homelessness application?
Contact the housing or homelessness service at your local council and state clearly that you are homeless or threatened with homelessness and need assistance.
Individual councils decide how people can contact their service, so local routes can include an online form, telephone contact or an appointment. The statutory assessment itself must respond to your individual circumstances; government guidance says councils cannot rely solely on an automated online process to assess a person who may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days.
There is no fee to ask the council for statutory homelessness help or homelessness-prevention advice.
What information should you give the council?
The council needs enough information to understand why you are homeless or at risk and what help you need. Depending on your circumstances, useful evidence can include:
- identification and immigration or residence information where relevant;
- your tenancy agreement, licence or other evidence of your current accommodation;
- an eviction, possession or other notice affecting your right to remain;
- rent statements or information about arrears;
- details of income, benefits and affordability problems;
- information about everyone who normally lives with you;
- medical or disability evidence relevant to your housing needs;
- information about domestic abuse, violence or other safety risks; and
- information from social workers, health professionals or other services supporting you.
Do not postpone an urgent approach merely because some paperwork is missing. The council must consider the information available and can make further inquiries.
What happens during the council's homelessness assessment?
Where the council has reason to believe you may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, it must make inquiries into your situation.
For an eligible applicant who is homeless or threatened with homelessness, the assessment covers:
- the circumstances that caused the housing problem;
- your household's housing needs and what accommodation would be suitable; and
- any support needed to obtain and keep suitable accommodation.
The council must notify you of the assessment and provide the relevant plan in writing.
What is a personalised housing plan?
Eligible applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness must receive an assessment and a personalised housing plan.
The plan records reasonable steps that you and the council will take to prevent or relieve homelessness. Those steps must reflect your individual housing circumstances and needs rather than being a generic checklist.
Depending on the case, prevention work might involve trying to preserve existing accommodation, addressing rent or benefit problems, working with a landlord or family member, or helping to find another suitable home.
What help can the council give before you lose your home?
If you are eligible for assistance and threatened with homelessness within 56 days, an English housing authority has a prevention duty to take reasonable steps to help prevent you becoming homeless.
Priority need and intentional homelessness do not determine whether this prevention duty is initially owed. This means you should seek help even if you are single and do not believe you would qualify for emergency accommodation.
If the problem is affordability, you may also want to check whether Universal Credit can help with eligible housing costs or, where the separate eligibility rules apply, whether you can apply for Housing Benefit.
What if you are already homeless?
If the council is satisfied that you are both homeless and eligible for assistance, the relief duty requires it to take reasonable steps to help you secure suitable accommodation.
The accommodation it helps secure should have a reasonable prospect of being available for at least 6 months. The relief duty normally runs for up to 56 days unless one of the statutory circumstances for ending it occurs.
Can the council give you emergency accommodation?
Emergency or interim accommodation is not automatically owed to every homelessness applicant in England. However, if the council has reason to believe that you may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need, section 188 of the Housing Act 1996 requires it to secure interim accommodation while the relevant inquiries are made.
The threshold at this stage is deliberately low: the council needs reason to believe you may meet those tests rather than having completed its final investigation.
Who has priority need?
Priority need matters particularly for interim accommodation and the main housing duty. Categories include certain applicants where:
- the applicant or someone expected to live with them is pregnant;
- dependent children live or are reasonably expected to live with the applicant;
- the applicant is homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse;
- the applicant is vulnerable because of old age, mental illness, learning disability, physical disability or another special reason;
- specific rules covering 16- and 17-year-olds or certain care leavers apply; or
- another statutory priority-need category applies.
Priority need is a legal assessment. Do not assume you are excluded simply because you are single or do not have children.
What if it is unsafe to stay because of domestic abuse?
Tell the council if you cannot safely remain at home because of domestic abuse. In England, a person who is homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse has priority need for accommodation.
The legal definition of homelessness can also cover accommodation where it is not reasonable to continue occupying it because of violence or abuse. You should not be expected to remain somewhere that is unsafe simply to avoid making a homelessness application.
Does immigration status affect council homelessness help?
It can. Eligibility for statutory homelessness assistance is subject to immigration and residence rules. GOV.UK states that someone living permanently in the UK will usually be eligible, while some people from abroad may not be eligible because of their immigration status.
However, English housing authorities must provide or secure free advice and information about homelessness and preventing homelessness for anyone in their district, including people who are not eligible for the main statutory assistance because of immigration status.
What if the council thinks you became homeless intentionally?
Intentional homelessness does not prevent an eligible person from receiving the initial prevention or relief duties. Government guidance states that those duties apply regardless of whether an applicant may later be considered intentionally homeless.
It can matter later. If homelessness has not been successfully relieved, an applicant with priority need who is found intentionally homeless receives a more limited accommodation duty than someone who is unintentionally homeless.
Do not leave accommodation simply because you have been told informally that you may need to move. Get housing advice and tell the council the full circumstances before taking an irreversible step where possible.
When does the main housing duty apply?
If homelessness is not successfully prevented or relieved, the council must consider whether a longer-term accommodation duty is owed.
In England, the main housing duty generally applies where the applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, has priority need and is not intentionally homeless, subject to the statutory rules including any valid referral to another housing authority and ways in which duties can end.
The accommodation secured under homelessness duties must be suitable for the applicant and the household members who will live with them.
Can a council refuse to help because you have no local connection?
Lack of local connection does not mean you should be refused an initial homelessness application. An English council must take reasonable steps to prevent homelessness whether or not you have a local connection with its area.
If you are already homeless, the legislation can in certain circumstances allow your case to be referred to another housing authority where you have a local connection. Local connection can arise through matters such as normal residence, employment, family associations or special circumstances.
A council cannot simply use a supposed stronger connection elsewhere to transfer responsibility outside the statutory referral rules. There are also protections where a referral would expose an applicant or household member to a risk of violence.
Does temporary housing have to be in your local area?
Not necessarily. Homelessness accommodation can sometimes be outside the council's district, particularly where local housing supply is limited.
However, any accommodation secured under the relevant statutory duties must be suitable. Suitability is assessed in light of the circumstances and needs of you and your household, including relevant location, health, disability, space and other factors.
Can you challenge the council's homelessness decision?
Yes. Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives applicants rights to request reviews of specified homelessness decisions, including important decisions about duties and the suitability of accommodation.
A review request must normally be made within 21 days from the day you are notified of the decision. The council can allow a longer period in writing.
You can request a review of the suitability of certain accommodation even if you accepted the offer. Because refusing an offer can affect homelessness duties, consider obtaining housing advice before rejecting accommodation you believe is unsuitable.
What if you are homeless in Wales?
Wales has a separate statutory homelessness system. Contact your Welsh local authority directly if you are homeless or at risk of losing your home.
Welsh Government guidance confirms that local authorities must help people who could lose their home or are homeless. The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 established duties to assess and assist households, and homelessness legislation in Wales was further reformed by the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026.
Do not assume that every England rule on this page applies to a Welsh application; use the current Welsh local-authority process.
What if you are homeless in Scotland?
Scotland also has its own homelessness legislation. Your Scottish local council has a legal duty to help if you are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Scottish Government guidance states that temporary accommodation must be offered if needed while a homelessness assessment decision is being made. Scotland abolished the priority-need test for determining entitlement to settled accommodation, so the legal framework differs significantly from England.
Since 29 November 2022, Scottish councils also no longer refer applicants to another Scottish local authority solely on local-connection grounds.
What if you are homeless in Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland uses a different system. If you have no home or are in danger of losing your home, contact the Northern Ireland Housing Executive rather than following the English council process.
The Housing Executive investigates whether an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness, eligible for assistance, in priority need and intentionally or unintentionally homeless. Depending on the assessment, help can include advice, temporary accommodation or a full housing duty.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Waiting until you are sleeping rough. In England, seek help when homelessness is threatened within 56 days, or earlier for advice.
- Assuming staying temporarily with friends means you cannot be homeless.
- Failing to tell the council that you have nowhere safe to stay tonight.
- Not explaining pregnancy, dependent children, disability, health problems, domestic abuse or other circumstances relevant to priority need and suitable accommodation.
- Leaving out members of your household or important support needs.
- Leaving accommodation unnecessarily before getting advice where it is still reasonable and safe to remain.
- Assuming lack of local connection prevents you from making an application.
- Refusing accommodation without first understanding how refusal could affect your case.
- Ignoring the personalised housing plan or correspondence from the council.
- Missing the normal 21-day deadline for requesting a review of a reviewable decision.
What should you do now?
If you are in England and already have nowhere suitable to live, or expect to lose your home within 56 days, contact your local council's homelessness service and clearly ask for homelessness assistance.
If you have nowhere safe to stay tonight, say so immediately and explain any circumstances that may create priority need. Give the council the information and evidence you have, complete the assessment and keep copies of written decisions and your personalised housing plan.
If housing costs are contributing to the crisis, check relevant benefit support as part of the wider plan, but do not wait for a benefit claim to be resolved before approaching the council when homelessness is imminent.
Frequently asked questions
How soon should I contact the council if I am going to lose my home?
In England, contact the council as early as possible. The statutory prevention duty applies when an eligible person is threatened with homelessness within 56 days, and councils are encouraged to offer earlier assistance where possible.
Do I have to be sleeping on the street to count as homeless?
No. You can be legally homeless while temporarily staying elsewhere, if you cannot access your home, if it is not reasonable to remain because of violence or abuse, or in other circumstances covered by homelessness law.
Can I ask the council for help before I am actually evicted?
Yes. In England, homelessness prevention is specifically designed to help eligible people who are threatened with homelessness before they actually lose their accommodation.
Does it cost anything to make a homelessness application?
No application fee applies. English councils must also make homelessness and homelessness-prevention advice and information available free of charge.
Will the council give me emergency accommodation tonight?
Not every applicant automatically qualifies. In England, the council must secure interim accommodation if it has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have priority need.
Do families with children have priority need?
A person with whom dependent children live or might reasonably be expected to live is among the statutory priority-need categories in England.
Do domestic abuse victims have priority need?
In England, a person who is homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse has priority need for accommodation.
Can I get homelessness help if I am single and have no children?
Yes. Eligible people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness can receive prevention or relief assistance regardless of priority need. Priority need becomes particularly important for interim accommodation and the main housing duty.
What is a personalised housing plan?
It is a written plan produced after the statutory assessment for an eligible applicant who is homeless or threatened with homelessness. It sets out reasonable steps for the council and applicant to take to prevent or relieve homelessness.
How long does the homelessness relief duty last?
In England, the relief duty normally lasts for up to 56 days unless it ends earlier for one of the reasons set out in homelessness legislation.
Can the council refuse my application because I have no local connection?
Lack of local connection does not prevent the council from taking a homelessness application or carrying out the prevention duty. If you are already homeless, statutory referral rules can sometimes allow responsibility to pass to another housing authority.
Can the council send me to another area for accommodation?
Accommodation can sometimes be outside the council's district, but accommodation secured under the statutory homelessness duties must be suitable for you and your household.
What if the council says I made myself intentionally homeless?
Intentional homelessness does not prevent an eligible applicant from receiving the initial prevention or relief duties, but it can affect the accommodation duty owed later if homelessness is not resolved.
Can I challenge a council homelessness decision?
Many specified homelessness decisions can be reviewed. In England, the normal deadline for requesting a statutory review is 21 days from notification of the decision.
Should I refuse temporary accommodation if I think it is unsuitable?
Get advice before refusing. Applicants can request reviews of the suitability of certain accommodation, including after accepting it, while refusing a suitable offer can affect the council's duties.
Are the homelessness rules the same in Scotland and Wales?
No. Scotland and Wales have separate homelessness legislation and procedures. Contact the relevant local council and use the rules for that nation.
Who deals with homelessness in Northern Ireland?
Homelessness applications in Northern Ireland are handled by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive rather than through the English local-council system.
Official sources
GOV.UK - Help if you're homeless or about to become homelessMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Homelessness code of guidance for local authoritiesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Overview of the homelessness legislationMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Assessments and personalised plansMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Prevention dutyMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Relief dutyMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Priority needMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Eligibility for assistanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Accommodation duties and powersMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Suitability of accommodationMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Review of decisions and appealsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Domestic abuse and homelessnessWelsh Government - Support if you are homeless or about to become homelessWelsh Government - Housing (Wales) Act 2014Welsh Government - Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026Scottish Government - Homelessness guidancemygov.scot - If you're homeless or have nowhere safe to stayScottish Government - Summary of current homelessness legislationNorthern Ireland Housing Executive - Homelessness information leafletRelated procedures
Useful next steps and closely related guides for United Kingdom.
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