If you are homeless or may lose your home — Easy Read

You do not have to be sleeping outside

You may be legally homeless if you have no accommodation you can reasonably occupy. This can include being unable to enter your home or being unsafe there because of abuse. Contact the council early if you may lose your home within 56 days, or sooner for advice. A notice from a landlord does not always mean you must leave immediately. Show it to a housing adviser rather than guessing the legal date.

Make a homelessness application

Contact the council’s homelessness or housing options team. Say that you need help with accommodation and why you are homeless or may become homeless. You can ask by telephone, email or in person; a particular online form is not compulsory. Ask staff to record the application and give you a reference. Joining a housing waiting list is a different process. You can ask any housing authority, although local-connection rules may affect which one takes longer-term responsibility.

If you have nowhere safe tonight

Tell the team clearly and ask for an urgent assessment of whether it must provide interim accommodation. Outside office hours, use the council’s emergency homelessness number. Call 999 if there is immediate danger. If you also lack essential personal care, contact adult social care and ask the teams to work together. A place to sleep does not automatically meet your care needs.

Understand interim accommodation and priority need

The council must secure interim accommodation if it has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need. This is an initial, low threshold; it does not require every enquiry to be finished. Priority need includes several legal categories. Disability can qualify where it makes you vulnerable if homeless, but a diagnosis alone does not automatically settle that test. People homeless because they are victims of domestic abuse have a separate priority-need category.

Explain your own situation and support

Describe what would happen if you had no safe home: difficulties understanding danger, managing medicines, getting food, communicating or finding help. Explain any exploitation risk, sensory or physical access needs, and what family or services can actually provide. Ask professionals for relevant evidence, but do not delay an urgent application while collecting a perfect file. Immigration status can affect eligibility; get regulated advice if this is in question. Being told to join the housing register does not answer an urgent homelessness application.

Ask for accessible communication

Request an explanation you understand, an interpreter or communication aid, enough time and a safe way to contact you. Say if you cannot use an online account, read letters or attend the office. You can choose someone to help. If no family member or advocate is available, tell the council what assistance you need rather than waiting to apply. A learning disability does not by itself remove your ability to make choices or take part.

Agree a personalised housing plan

For eligible applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, the council must assess housing and support needs and record reasonable steps in a personalised housing plan. Ask what the council will do, what you are expected to do, what help is available and when the plan will be reviewed. Say immediately if a step is inaccessible or impossible. Prevention and relief duties do not guarantee a council tenancy or every applicant a temporary home.

Check whether an offer is suitable

Explain needs affecting the location, stairs, bathroom, equipment space, safety, affordability and access to essential care or health services. Include the effect of being far from people you rely on. Ask how those needs were considered and which costs you must pay. Temporary accommodation must be suitable, although what works briefly may be unsuitable for a long stay. Request written reasons and an urgent change if the placement cannot meet essential needs.

Get advice before refusing or leaving an offer

A refusal can affect the council’s duties. Ask which duty the offer is made under, its deadline, the consequences of refusing and any review right. For many reviewable offers, accepting the accommodation does not remove the right to challenge suitability. Seek urgent housing advice rather than assuming that either accepting or refusing is always the right answer. Tell the council immediately about dangers; you should not put yourself at risk simply to gather evidence.

Ask for the decision and protect review deadlines

Ask for written reasons and the review instructions if assistance is refused, a duty ends or an offer is unsuitable. Many homelessness decisions can be reviewed under section 202. The usual deadline is 21 days starting with the day you are notified; the council can allow longer in writing. Request a review promptly and ask how further evidence can follow. A housing-register review uses different rules. A general complaint does not replace the statutory review.

Interim accommodation has a different challenge route

There is no section 202 review right about the suitability of section 188 interim accommodation. Ask the council urgently to reconsider and explain why the accommodation is unsuitable. A housing solicitor may need to consider judicial review. If you request review of a different homelessness decision, accommodation does not always continue automatically: ask expressly for accommodation pending review and get advice if refused. After a review, a county court appeal on a point of law normally has another 21-day deadline; get specialist advice promptly.

If the council will not take your application or nothing happens

Ask for a duty manager, explain the immediate situation and keep a record of contact. Seek a housing adviser or legal aid solicitor, particularly if there is nowhere safe to stay or a deadline. The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service offers free advice for qualifying threats of possession and court duty help regardless of finances. Its early advice starts when you receive written notice that possession is being sought. Council complaints and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may address failures, but are not substitutes for an urgent housing or court remedy.

Keep the plan up to date

Keep decisions, notices, offers and your application reference safely. Report relevant changes and agree a contact method you can access. If you are 16 or 17, ask the council’s children’s services and homelessness teams for coordinated help; additional children’s duties apply. Use the worksheet to organise the facts, not to postpone asking for a safe place or essential support.

If you may lose your home

When to ask

Make an application

If there is nowhere safe tonight

Explain your support needs

Ask for help to take part

Ask for a housing plan

Check the accommodation

Before refusing an offer

Ask for written decisions

Reviews have deadlines

Some challenges need a different route

Keep asking for help

What you can do next

More useful links