Housing

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 is the most significant homelessness legislation for 40 years. The act places new legal duties on English councils so that everyone who is homeless or at risk of homelessness will have access to help, irrespective of their priority need status, as long as they are eligible for assistance.

For everyone who seeks assistance the Housing Advice Team will work with them to develop a personal housing plan to address their housing issues and will have particular focus on;

• the factors that have led a household to be threatened with homelessness, or actually homeless
• the housing and support needs of the household to secure suitable and sustainable accommodation

This personalised plan is developed in collaboration with the customer (and their household) and reviewed on a regular basis. The plan will identify actions to prevent or relieve homelessness, meet housing and support needs, and ultimately support the resident to create the foundations for a stable life. Other agencies who are involved with a household may also be asked to contribute to this plan.

We may provide emergency accommodation to you if you are homeless, but we will always try to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. If this is not possible, we will try to find a solution and housing options to make sure that you have a safe place to stay.

On the 1st October 2018, the Homelessness Reduction Act introduced a new requirement on specified public authorities in England to notify councils of service users they think may be homeless or threatened with becoming homeless. There is more infomation about this below. 

If you are a member of the public and need to contact the housing advice team, you should continue to use the methods here [hyperlink to Homeless or worried you might lose your home?  page].

Duty to refer

On the 1 October 2018, the Homelessness Reduction Act introduced a new requirement on specified public authorities in England to notify councils of service users they think may be homeless or threatened with becoming homeless. 

More information on the new duty to refer requirements is available from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on GOV.UK - A guide to the duty to refer.

If you are a public authority looking for information on Hartlepool’s approach to duty to refer you can find the combined North East Procedure and forms for Duty to Refer here.