Worthing Borough Council

• Homelessness Survival Guide
• Homelessness Strategy 2008-2013

Homelessness

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01903 221063

housing-services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Homeless? Can Worthing Borough Council help?

Preventing Homelessness

Worthing Borough Council will always try to prevent or resolve homelessness. If you think you're about to become homeless get advice, contact our Housing Services team.

If we are unable to prevent or resolve the homelessness problem then we will consider what duties may be owed under the homeless legislation.

In order to qualify for housing from the Council due to being homeless you must satisfy certain legal rules. The following guidance explains these rules and provides further advice about the homeless process that would be followed were you to apply to Worthing Borough Council.

Please also see our Homelessness Survival Guide.

The Homelessness Legislation

• Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, often referred to simply as "the homelessness legislation", places a general duty on housing authorities to ensure that advice and information about homelessness and preventing homelessness, is available to everyone in their district free of charge. It also requires authorities to assist individuals and families who are homeless and apply for help.
• Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 is amended by the Homelessness Act 2002.

Overview of the Homlessness Legislation

In order to be owed a main housing duty under the terms of the homelessness legislation you must satisfy the following five criteria (these are explained more fully in the rest of this document).

You must be:

• Eligible for assistance
• Homeless or threatened with becoming homeless within 28 days.
• Have a priority need for accommodation.
• Not found to be intentionally homeless
• Have a local connection with the area

Again even if you do not satisfy all the above mentioned criteria the Borough Council will give advice and assistance to try and help you with your housing problem.

Contents

• Eligible for Assistance
• Homeless or Threatened with Homelessness
• Priority Need
• Intentional Homelessness
• Local Connection
• What happens when a Homeless Application is made to Worthing Borough Council?
  • Applications and Inquiries
  • Interim Duty To Accommodate
  • Will the Council provide storage whilst an applicant is in a bed and breakfast/temporary accommodation?
  • Pets
  • Decisions and Notifications
  • Not happy with the council's decision?
  • Main duties owed to applicants on completion of inquiries
  • Will an applicant get a permanent home?
  • Housing association or council tenancy?
  • Renting privately, can the council help?
  • Where to get advice

Eligible for Assistance

The homeless legislation includes provisions that deny eligibility for housing assistance to certain groups of person from abroad. Housing authorities therefore need to satisfy themselves that applicants are eligible before providing housing assistance.

If you are from abroad and are subject to immigration control, you may not be eligible for assistance if you become threatened with homeless. If you think this may apply to you, it is still a good idea to seek advice because there are a number of exceptions to this rule.

Homeless of Threatened with Homelessness

You will usually be considered homeless if any of the following applies:

• you have no accommodation which you are entitled to occupy (by permission or as a tenant or owner),
• your family are living apart because there is nowhere you can all live together,
• you have accommodation but cannot gain lawful entry to it,
• you have a home but if you continue to occupy the accommodation it is probable that this will lead to domestic violence or other violence,
• your home is a caravan, or a houseboat and you have nowhere to legally park it, or moor it,
• you have been made homeless as a result of an emergency, such as fire, flood or some other disaster,
• you are threatened with homelessness i.e. it is likely that you will become homeless within 28 days.

Priority Need

The main homelessness duties apply only to applicants who have a priority need for accommodation. The following categories of applicant usually have a priority need:

• a pregnant woman or a person with whom she resides or might reasonably be expected to reside,
• a person with whom dependant children reside or might reasonably be expected to reside,
• a person who is vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness or handicap or physical disability or other special reason, or with whom such a person resides or might reasonably be expected to reside,
• a person who is homeless, or threatened with homelessness, as a result of an emergency such as flood, fire or other disaster.

The Secretary of State has powers to add to these categories and has exercised this in making the Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002.

The Order provides that six further categories of applicants may have a priority need:

• a person aged sixteen or seventeen who is not a relevant child  (see below) or a child in need to whom a local authority owes a duty under section 20 of the Children Act 1989,
• a person under twenty one who was (but is no longer) looked after, accommodated or fostered between the ages of 16 and 18 (except a person who is a relevant Student - see below)
• a person aged twenty one or more who is vulnerable as a result of having been looked after, accommodated or fostered (except a person who is a relevant student)
• a person who is vulnerable as a result of having been a member of Her Majesty's regular naval, military or air forces
• a person who is vulnerable as a result of:
  1. having served a custodial sentence
  2. having been committed for contempt of court or
  3. any other kindred offence, or having been remanded in custody;
• a person who is vulnerable as a result of ceasing to occupy accommodation because of violence from another person or threats of violence from another person which are likely to be carried out.

Not everyone in the above mentioned categories will be in priority need. The critical test of vulnerability for applicants in all these categories is whether, when homeless, the applicant would be less able to fend for himself than an ordinary homeless person so that he would be likely to suffer injury or detriment, in circumstances where a less vulnerable person would be able to cope without harmful effects.  

Worthing Borough Council is responsible for making decisions on whether a person is vulnerable, but must make a reasonable decision.

A relevant child is a child aged 16 or 17 who has been looked after by a local authority for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 and has been looked after some time while 16 or 17 and who is not currently being looked after. In addition, a child may be a relevant child if he or she would have qualified but for the fact that on his or her 16th birthday he or she was detained through the criminal justice system, or in hospital, or if he or she has returned home on family placement and that has broken down.

A relevant student means a care leaver under 24 to whom section 24b(3) of the Children Act 1989 applies and who is in full time further or higher education and whose term time accommodation is not available to him/her during vacation.

Intentional Homelessness

The Borough Council will also look at why you have become homeless.

People make themselves homeless intentionally when homelessness is the consequence of a deliberate act or omission by them (unless this was made in good faith in ignorance of a relevant fact).

A deliberate act might be a decision to leave previous accommodation even though it would have been reasonable to stay there. A deliberate omission might be non-payment of rent that led to rent arrears and eviction.

If you think you are at risk of losing your home seek advice immediately. 

If you leave your accommodation whilst you have a legal right to remain there and you have not arranged other secure accommodation, it may affect the help you receive from the Council should you make a homeless application. 

Local Connection

You will usually have a Local Connection if you or anyone who lives with you have:

Normally resided in Worthing for six months in the past year or three years in the past five years; or have permanent employment in Worthing; or have close blood relative/s who have lived in Worthing for the last five years; or have any other special connection with Worthing.

The following does not count as a local connection:-

Residence with or employment by the armed forces.  Residence in prison, hospital or other institution or therapeutic setting.  Casual employment.  Temporary placement in Worthing by another local authority.  Where applicants are found to be unintentionally homeless and in priority need (i.e. they meet the criteria for the main homelessness duty) and are found not to have a local connection with the district where they have made their application but to have one somewhere else, the housing authority dealing with the application can ask the housing authority in that other district to take responsibility for the case.

However, applicants cannot be referred to a housing authority in another district where they have a local connection if evidence shows that they would be at risk of violence there.

If an applicant has a local connection with more than one Council, the applicant can say which they would prefer to be referred to.

If Worthing Borough Council considers it has a housing duty towards an applicant and they do not have a local connection anywhere, Worthing Borough Council will assist them itself.

What happens when a homeless application is made to Worthing Borough Council?

Applications and Inquiries

When a homeless application is made to Worthing Borough Council the housing officer responsible for the case will make inquiries regarding the applicants circumstances in order to see whether they are owed any duty under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002).

This assessment process is important as it enables the Borough Council to identify the assistance which an applicant may need either to prevent them from becoming homeless or to help them to find another home.

In each case, the officer will need to decide whether the applicant is eligible for assistance, homeless or threatened with becoming homeless within 28 days, have a priority need for assistance and if so, whether the homelessness was intentional.  If the above four criteria are all satisfied the housing officer will then consider whether the applicant has a local connection with the Borough.

If all the above criteria are satisfied a full housing duty is owed to the applicant.

Interim Duty to Accommodate

A duty to secure that accommodation is available (section 188) is triggered if the authority has reason to believe that an applicant may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need.

If accommodation is provided under section 188, this may be self contained accommodation in one room in a hotel or guest house or occasionally Bed and Breakfast.

You will be expected to pay towards the cost of temporary/emergency accommodation although you may be eligible for help with this if you are on benefit or on a low income.

Will the Council provide storage whilst an applicant is bed and breakfast or temporary accommodation?

Help with storage or removals will only be provided in circumstances when an applicant cannot make arrangements for themself.  When assistance is provided, Worthing Borough Council reserve the right to recover any costs incurred from the applicant.

Pets

Most providers of temporary accommodation will not allow pets.  You will be responsible for making provision for your animals. The Council will only make arrangements for the boarding of pets in exceptional circumstances. Where these services are arranged the Borough Council reserve the right to make a reasonable charge.

Decisions and Notifications

Worthing Borough Council will provide all applicants with written notification of the decisions on their application, and the reasons for them where the decision goes against their interests.

Not happy with the council's decision?

If you are not happy with the Council's decision you have the right to request a Review.

The Review process entails a different officer from the one that made the original decision reviewing the case; this officer has the ability to uphold or change the original decision.   

If you wish to request a Review, you must do so within 21 days of being notified of the decision. Details of how to do this will be set out in the Council's decision letter together with a Review Request Form.

If the original decision is not changed on Review and you still feel that the decision is wrong, you have the right to appeal to a County Court on a point of law. To do this, your appeal must be brought within 21 days of your being notified of the outcome of your Review.

If you want to request a Review, you may wish to ask The Citizens Advice Bureau, Shelter Housing Advice, or perhaps a solicitor for advice on how best to do this.

Worthing Borough Council do not normally provide accommodation whilst a Review is being considered. However if there are special reasons why accommodating an applicant whilst the Review process is carried out  may be appropriate, this information should be put in writing as part of the Review request. 

Main duties owed to applicants on completion of inquiries

No duty is owed to applicants who are ineligible for assistance or not homeless but homelessness advice is available to them.  

The following duties will be owed to applicants where Worthing Borough Council has completed its inquiries and is satisfied that the applicant is eligible for assistance and is homeless or threatened with homelessness.

• If Worthing Borough Council finds an applicant to be unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness, but not to have a priority need for assistance the Council only has a duty to provide advice and assistance.
• If Worthing Borough Council finds an applicant to be unintentionally homeless and to have a priority need for assistance the Council will have a duty to secure accommodation. If an offer of suitable accommodation either temporary or permanent is made and refused without good reason, the Councils duty will be deemed as being discharged and no further housing will be arranged.
• If Worthing Borough Council finds an applicant to be intentionally homeless and to have a priority need for assistance the applicant will not be owed a main homelessness duty. They will be entitled to advice and assistance and temporary accommodation for a short period only. They may also wish to seek advice from the Social Services department in order to establish whether that department owes any duties to them under the National Assistance or Children Act.
• If Worthing Borough Council finds an applicant to be intentionally threatened with homelessness and to have a priority need the Council will have a duty to provide advice and assistance only, again the applicant may want to seek advice from the Social Services department in order to establish whether they are owed any duties under the National Assistance or Children Act.

Will an applicant get permanent housing?

Only people whose names are on the Council's Register of Housing Need can be considered for permanent housing.  You should complete an application form if you have not already done so. Your need for permanent housing will be compared with the needs of everyone else.

Under the Housing Act 1996, the needs of everyone who applies for permanent housing will be compared on an equal basis.  If your need is considered to be greater than that of others on the Housing Register you will be offered suitable permanent housing when available.  Worthing Borough Council operates a Choice Based Lettings system which determines priority via a Banding system.  There are four Bands A, B, C and D, with A being the highest.  Applicants owed the main housing duty under the homelessness legislation are generally in Band C and approximatley 50% of available properties are let to people in Band C. 

Housing Association or Council Tenancy?

Worthing Borough Council no longer owns any housing and so cannot  offer Council accommodation.  Any tenancy offered will be an assured or assured shorthold Housing Association Tenancy.

Renting privately, can the Council help?

Worthing Borough Council may be able to help with rent via housing benefit if an applicant is on a low income or unemployed.  An application form is available from the Revenues and Benefits, Housing Benefit forms section.

Remember, Housing Benefit cannot usually be backdated so any delay in making a claim could cost you benefit.

Where to get further advice

• Worthing Borough Council - Housing Services
  If you need advice please call 01903 221063. 
• The Housing team are based at the Civic Centre in Ham Road, Shoreham.  If you are in Worthing and need to speak to someone urgently, there is a freephone available in Portland House in Worthing for you to use to speak to a Housing Officer.  
• Citizens Advice Bureau
• Shelter

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