Homelessness Duties

Who the Council has to help

The Council does not have to house everyone who is homeless. Who the Council helps is legally defined by the 1996 Housing Act as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 . The Council only has a legal duty to provide accommodation to those people to whom all of the following conditions apply. This means people who:

• Are eligible for public funds.
• Are homeless or threatened with homelessness within 28 days.
• Have a priority need.
• Are not homeless intentionally.
• Have a local connection with North Dorset District Council.

The Council does have a legal duty to provide everyone who is homeless or threatened with homelessness with advice and assistance, as is appropriate. The following sections will help explain each of these legal tests.

Eligible

Generally speaking, you are eligible for assistance if you are habitually resident in the United Kingdom, have recourse to public funds and are not subject to any immigration control. If you have arrived here from abroad and are subject to immigration control under the Asylum & Immigration Act 1996 you may not be eligible. If you have arrived in the UK within the past five years we will require proof of your eligibility for public funds.

This is a complicated area of law and if you are unsure, you may wish to contact the Immigration & Nationality Directorate. The section below is a guide only and an individual’s circumstances may be different.

You will be subject to immigration control if you are not one of the following:

• A Citizen of: Austria; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Ireland; Italy; Luxembourg; the Netherlands; Portugal; Spain; Sweden; the UK or a Commonwealth country.

If you are subject to immigration control but one of the following conditions apply to you, you may also be eligible for assistance:

1. You have been granted refugee status in the United Kingdom.
2. You have been given leave to stay in the UK with no time limit and with recourse to public funds.
3. You are a citizen of Turkey, Malta, Iceland, Norway or Cyprus.
4. You are in receipt of an income based benefit.

You must also be habitually resident in the UK. This means that even if you are a British Citizen, you may not be eligible for assistance if you have recently returned from an extended stay abroad.

The "habitually resident" rule does not apply if:

1. You have refugee status with exceptional leave to stay.
2. You are an asylum seeker who is eligible for assistance.
3. You are a "worker" for the purposes of EEC regulations.
4. You have the right to live outside the UK under an EEC council directive.

If you are not eligible then the Council will give you advice but does not have to find you accommodation.

If you are an EEA National other than a National of the Common Travel Area, then you must be employed in order to be eligible. This work must be effective and genuine. You may be eligible if you have worked in the past. Contact Housing Services for further assistance.

If you are an A8 National then you must be employed by a Home Office Registered employer to be classed as working. If you are not working you may be ineligible. If you have worked for one year without a break of more than 30 days then you do not need a registration certificate. You will be treated in the same way as a EEA National. This means that you must be employed in genuine and effective work in order to be eligible.

Homeless

The Housing Act 1996 as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 defines the legal meaning of homelessness. You will be classed as homeless if you or anyone in your household:

1. Have no accommodation available to you in the UK or elsewhere which you have a legal right to occupy.
2. Have accommodation but cannot secure entry to it.
3. Have accommodation which is a moveable structure such as a caravan or houseboat, but have nowhere to legally park or moor it for accommodation.
4. Have accommodation but it is not reasonable for you to continue to occupy it. This can be as a result of violence or threats of violence, or as a result of an emergency such as fire, flood or similar incident.

You will be classed as threatened with homelessness if you are at risk of losing your home within the next 28 days.

Priority Need

If you are homeless and eligible for assistance, the Council needs to decide if you have a priority need for housing. The Council only has a legal duty to provide emergency accommodation to those applicants to whom one of the following circumstances apply. You are considered to have a priority need if:

1. You or your partner is pregnant.
2. You or your partner have dependent children.
3. You or someone who might reasonably be expected to live with you, is vulnerable due to old age, mental illness or handicap or physical disability or other special reason.
4. You are homeless as a result of an emergency such as flood, fire or other disaster.
5. You are aged 16 or 17
6. You are aged under 21 and have been looked after, accommodated or fostered between the ages of 16 and 18.

You may also be found to have a priority need if you are vulnerable as a result of one of the following conditions.

1. You are 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.
2. You are aged 21 or more and are vulnerable as a result of having been looked after, accommodated or fostered.
3. You are vulnerable as a result of having been a member of Her Majesty’s regular naval, military or air forces.
4. You are vulnerable as a result of
• having served a custodial sentence
• having been committed for contempt of court or any other kindred offence
• having been remanded in custody.

In considering whether you have a priority need or whether you are vulnerable, the Council may need to contact other specialists and organisations.

In the case of 16 and 17 year olds who have been asked to leave their parental home, the Council takes the view that it is in their best interests to remain in the family home, unless they are at risk of violence or abuse.  The Council will endeavour to liaise with parents to enable such applicants to return to the family home.

In all cases involving parental eviction of children aged 16 and 17, the Council will contact and involve Social Services to assist them in investigating the case. Parents will be expected to attend interviews and be questioned about why they are evicting their children and visits will be made to the parental home to check facts and to conduct to discuss the difficulties they may be experiencing and the housing options available. The Council will also require a written notice for a reasonable from the parents stating the reasons for eviction and a final eviction date.  This is usually taken to be 28 days.

If you are experiencing violence or abuse from your parents then contact Housing Services for an informal discussion of what options are available.

Intentionally homeless

The Council is required by law to investigate whether somebody is homeless as a result of their own actions. If this is the case, the Council only has a limited duty to assist. In law, someone has made themselves homeless intentionally if they ceased to occupy accommodation which was available to them and which was reasonable to occupy, as a direct result of something they did or failed to do. Ways in which people can be found to have made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ are:

1. If someone does not pay their rent or mortgage and loses their home.
2. If someone leaves their accommodation voluntarily without securing any future accommodation.
3. If someone is evicted from a tenancy due to anti-social behaviour.
4. If someone fails to take up accommodation which is available for their occupation.
5. If someone fails to implement advice given to prevent homelessness and subsequently loses their home.

This is a complicated area of law. Your Homelessness Officer will investigate this area when you apply. If you are found to be in priority need but homeless intentionally, you will be offered temporary accommodation for a limited period of time only.

If you are found to be intentionally homeless and you have dependent children as part of your household, then the Council will alert Social Services about your situation. Your family may be eligible for assistance under Part 3 of  the Children Act 1989.

Local Connection

In order to qualify for help, you need to show that you have a connection to the North Dorset area. This can be established by:

1. Living in the North Dorset area for 6 out of the past 12 months or 3 out of the past 5 years.
2. Having permanent employment in the area
3. Having immediate relatives who have lived in the North Dorset area for at least the past 5 years.

If you do not have any connection to this area but you do have a local connection with another Authority, then we will refer you to that Council, provided that you are not at risk of violence in that area.

If you have no connection with any Council anywhere in the country then you may also be able to apply.

Army (or other institutional) accommodation does not confer any local connection to an area.

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