Being asked to leave by friends and family is one of the biggest causes of homelessness in England and a much better outcome can be achieved if a move is made in a planned way. We recognise that living in a multi-generational home or staying temporarily with friends can be extremely difficult but it is always better to plan a move. The only exception to this is if the arrangement is unsafe due to a risk of violence.
How we can help
If you are being asked to leave your current accommodation, we would advise you to seek early assistance. Our Housing Options team, are trained in mediation and experienced in negotiation. to work with you and the excluder by providing practical ideas to help you all try and work out a solution, so you don’t have to leave home immediately. Generally, for people leaving home, it is a major decision and requires careful thought and planning.
If you apply to the council for housing assistance because you are homeless in these circumstances, we may not necessarily be legally obliged to provide you with any accommodation.
However, we will have a duty to assess the circumstances of your homelessness, identify what your housing and support needs are, and to work with you to try to prevent your homelessness or support you to find you somewhere to live. We will provide you with a ‘personal housing plan’ which will tell you what we can do to help you and what you can do to help yourself. This might include actions such as attending appointments, proving supporting documentation or considering Homefinder UK.
For us to be legally obliged to provide you with accommodation, we would need to be satisfied that you are eligible, homeless, in priority need and that you have not made yourself intentionally homeless. Further information on what this means can be found in our advice document ‘Homelessness and how we can help’.
It is important to be aware that even if we can assist you, it is likely that we would place you into accommodation in the private sector.