Homelessness
If you are threatened with
homelessness or have no place to stay we may be able to
help.
How can the Council help
me?
The Council may be able to help you in one of the following
ways:
- Providing you with advice on how to get alternative
accommodation
- Helping you to resolve any problems you may have with your
landlord or host
- Finding you a place to live with a private landlord or on the
shared ownership scheme
- Finding you a place to live through the
Schemes for People in Employment
- Providing you with temporary accommodation if no other housing
option is appropriate
What should I do first?
To obtain housing advice you should visit your
Local Service Centre. There are seven Local Service Centres
within Newham. When you attend the centre you will be seen by a
Customer Services Advisor, who will give you advice on the services
available to you and if appropriate will refer you to the Housing
Options Centre usually by making an appointment for you.
What happens at
the Housing Options Centre?
A Housing Advisor will interview you and look at your problem in
more depth.
What should I bring to the interview at the Housing Options
Centre?
- proof of your identity (for example your passport or birth
certificate)
- proof of your income (for example your benefit books and/or
most recent payslips)
- proof of your children's identity (their birth
certificates)
- proof of any tenancies or licence agreements you may have or
used to have and letters from your landlord/agent such as notice to
quit
- proof of any illness or disability you may have (your medicines
and letters from your G.P or hospital doctor)
What happens at the interview?
The Housing Advisor will discuss your housing situation and give
you advice appropriate to your circumstances. This advice can
include assistance with any benefit or arrears problems you may
have, trying to help you to resolve any problems you may have with
your landlord, or what rights you have to remain in your
home.
What services can the Housings Options offer me to prevent
me becoming homeless?
Housing Advice
- Housing benefit advice- how
to make a claim, information on your Local Housing Allowance (LHA)
this is so you know if you can afford the rent before you move in,
problems with housing benefit shortfall or breaks in your
claim.
- Debt advice - including rent and mortgage
arrears.
- Welfare advice - what you could be entitled to
and how to apply.
- Mediation with your landlord - for example,
harassment or threats to evict you unlawfully. We can negotiate
with your landlord to resolve your tenancy issues and help you to
stay in your home.
- Private tenants - we can offer you advice
regarding your tenancy, for example if you are experiencing
problems with disrepair issues.
Mediation and family reconciliation -
- We use mediation and reconciliation to support families to
resolve conflicts and live amicably together. We aim to stop family
members from having to leave the family home because relationships
have broken down. We will visit you at home and talk to you about
the issues. We may also refer you on for specialist support from
trained mediators. The objective is to help family members to seek
joint solutions to the problems they are experiencing. This service
is free to our clients who approach HOC for advice or
assistance.
What do you do with the information I give
you?
Although the details of your application will be treated as
confidential we will require your authorisation to allow us to
carry out enquiries into your application for assistance. These
enquiries include contacting the Benefits Agency, Social Services,
G.P, previous landlords and carrying out a number of checks to
confirm your previous housing history. However you will be required
to authorise us to investigate the information you give us. During
the investigation we carry out various enquiries including checks
with benefit agencies, social services, GPs, previous landlords,
credit agencies and others to check the information you give us is
accurate.
We are also required to give information relating to your
application to other councils or departments, if you are placed in
their area.
We also have a duty to protect public funds, and may use
information stored on our computer systems for the prevention or
detection of fraud. In some cases, we will liaise with the police
to check or give information on clients
What if I become homeless after attending an interview at the
Housing Options Centre?
You must contact the Housing Options Centre immediately.
Arrangements will then be made for an emergency assessment to be
carried out.
What should I do if I'm homeless when the Housing Options
office is
closed?
For people who become homeless when the office is closed, we
operate an out of hours service. You can contact the out of office
hours after 5.30pm each weekday, or anytime at weekends and bank
holidays:
The out of hours service
Phone: 020 8552 9587
The person who answers the phone will ask you a
number of questions to make sure you are put in touch with the
correct officer.
You will also be asked for a contact number where the duty officer
can telephone you.
If you need to come back to the office to see your caseworker,
please contact them to make an appointment first to ensure they are
available to see you. This will also save you time as s/he will be
able to inform you what you need to bring with you, and may save
you unnecessary visits.
What happens if I need to be interviewed in another
language?
If your housing problem is an emergency we may use Language Line,
which is a service we use to speak to you in your own language. If
however you have an appointment we will arrange for an interpreter
to attend the interview with you.
What if I am not
able to come to the office?
In some circumstances we can arrange to visit you, for example, if
you are in hospital and are unable to come to the Housing Options
Centre due to illness.
False or misleading
information
We are under a duty to protect the public funds we administer and
may use the information you provide to match it against other
information held by the council, for example Council tax, or
Housing Benefits. We may also disclose any such information to
other public bodies, or similar external agencies, for the purpose
of the prevention or detection of fraud.
You are required to sign a declaration on the application form,
which states that you will give us correct information and will not
withhold relevant information, or mislead us in any way.
What if my circumstances change?
You must also keep us informed of any
changes in your circumstances.
The declaration informs applicants that they will be liable to
prosecution if any of the information is subsequently found to be
false. We will prosecute, and if you are found guilty, you could be
ordered to pay a fine of up to £5,000, as set out in Section 214 of
the Housing Act 1996, Part VII.
What if I cannot remain in my current
home?
If we cannot help you to remain in your home, we will offer you a
range of other options and advice. For example if you want to rent
a property in the private sector or if you are working and want to
know how you could afford to buy a property.
Private sector scheme (Bond
Scheme)
- Moving into the private rental sector can be expensive but HOC
may be able to assist you through our private sector scheme using
bonds instead of actual money for deposits.The Bond is a legally
binding agreement that is given to the landlord in place of a
deposit and is the equivalent of up to four weeks rent. We already
have some properties from accredited landlords waiting to be viewed
at HOC so we may be able to arrange viewing private rented
properties within a short period of time. Alternatively, you can
find your own accommodation and we can negotiate the bond with the
landlord on your behalf.
- Not everyone is "eligible" for the Bond Scheme - HOC can advise
you if you meet the criteria.
- Read our useful leaflet and find out more about
the Bond Scheme here
Schemes for People in Employment
- Shared ownership schemes
-
- Shared Ownership can help people who cannot afford full
ownership of a property to own a share of their own property. The
purchaser buys a share of a property by a mortgage and pays rent on
the remaining share they do not buy. The Housing Association
retains ownership of the remaining part, The purchaser may continue
to buy more shares leading to full ownership.
Anyone can apply for Shared Ownership Scheme, but priority will
often be given to people registered with East London Lettings
Company's waiting list.
- HomeBuy scheme
-
- HomeBuy is a scheme that aims to help council and housing
association tenants in England buy a home. Tenants pay a certain
percentage of the cost of the property and receive a contribution
from the Housing Association for the remaining part which they keep
ownership of. If the property is sold the remaining sum has to be
repaid and is linked to the value of the property so it will
increase or decrease in line with changes in the value of your
home.
- Key workers scheme
-
- This is a government funded scheme available to support the
purchase of homes by Key Workers whose services are considered
essential to the community they work in. The scheme targets
Teachers, N.H.S Professionals, Police, Probation Officers, Prison
Officers, Social Workers, Local Authority Planning Officers,
Occupational Therapists and Educational
Psychologists.
- NB: Not everyone will be eligible for the schemes but we will
be able to advise you on what assistance we can offer
you.
What happens if I am not eligible for any of the
schemes?
Advice and information on finding private rented and hostel
accommodation will be provided.
Can the council provide me with
accommodation?
Temporary accommodation and council housing is limited in Newham
and is only given to those who need it most.
Before you make an application for housing assistance a Housing
Advisor will go through all the alternative options that may be
more appropriate to find you a permanent home. To apply for
temporary council accommodation you will need to
make a homelessness application.
What if there is no duty to provide me with temporary
accommodation?
You will receive advice and assistance that is right for you
regardless of your priority status.