Making a homeless application

What happens at the interview?

During your interview with the homeless officer, you will be asked a series of questions relating to why you are homeless or threatened with homelessness. By law, it is necessary to find out whether you are homeless through no fault of your own. You will be asked to fill in a homeless application form. There are several things that we need to consider before we can help you. These include:

• why are you homeless?
• was your homelessness preventable?
• what are your personal circumstances, including family size, age and health?
• what is your connection with the local area?

From the answers that you give, we will investigate your claims and establish whether the council has a duty of care to you. You will need to provide some form of documentation to support your claims, e.g. Proof of benefits, Notice to Quit, Possession Order, proof of pregnancy, etc.

At the interview, which may take approximately 1 hour, the officer will establish the best course of action for you. After the investigation, we will notify you by post, of the decision that has been made on your case. If we believe you may be homeless and in priority need, we have a duty to provide you with a temporary home until we have made a decision.

If English is not your first language, we can arrange for your interview to be conducted by telephone using an interpreter. Please advise us if this is a service you require.

I am unable to attend an interview at the Housing offices, how can you help?

In certain instances, for example, if you have a disability, we can arrange to interview you in your home or in hospital. Please contact us by telephone to arrange this.

If you are currently in prison and waiting to be released, you should contact us in writing, outlining your circumstances. You may choose to contact us by telephone for advice and assistance, or your Probation Officer may also contact us on your behalf.

The information you give us.

The information you give us is confidential. However, we are required to give information relating to your application to other Council's or departments, if you are placed in their area. There is also a duty to protect public funds, and thus we may use information stored on our computer systems for the prevention or detection of fraud.

If there are any changes relating to the information you give us, or if your circumstances change, you must inform us.

Anyone who causes us to believe that they are homeless or threatened with homelessness by giving wrong information is guilty of an offence. If found guilty the person charged maybe fined up to £2500 under Section 214 of the Housing Act 1996, Part VII.

When will I receive a decision on my case?

We will look at all the information that we have collected relating to your application and make a formal decision. The decision will if possible, be made within 33 days of the application. We will notify you of our decision in writing.

What is local connection?

The Council has to establish if you have a 'local connection' with the Shepway District. If you do not, we have to establish if you have a 'local connection' with another District in the country. Guidelines state that you may have a 'local connection' if:

• you have lived in the District for 6 out of the last 12 months, with the exception of interim or temporary accommodation provided to you by another local authority
• you have lived in the District for 3 out of last 5 years, again with the exception of interim or temporary accommodation provided to you by another local authority
• you have permanent employment in the District
• you have a close relative who has lived in the District for the last 5 years.

What if I am found to be 'intentionally homeless'?

If you are found to be intentionally homeless, then we can offer you advice and assistance and help to prevent you from losing your home (should you have one). If you are already homeless, you may be entitled to accommodation for a reasonable period of time, usually 28 days, while you seek accommodation of your own.

For example, you may be considered intentionally homeless if:

1. you sell your home and have no other accommodation to occupy

2. you do not pay your rent or mortgage repayments when you can afford to

3. you ignore housing advice, which would have prevented the loss of your home

4. you are evicted for anti-social behaviour.

What can I do if I disagree with the Council's decision?

If you disagree with the decision we make, you have a legal right to request a review. Should you decide to do this you must contact us in writing, stating why you are appealing against the decision. You must contact us within 21 days of receiving the decision from us. A number of independent agencies can help you with this and these are listed at the end of this leaflet.

A panel consisting of elected councillors will then hear your case. If you are still unhappy with our decision after the review procedure is completed, you can apply to the County Court on a point of law. However, to do so you must write to the County Court within 21 days of you receiving a written decision from us. You can also apply directly to the Court if we take more than 56 days to review your case.

Contact Us

Housing Customer Services
Shepway Housing Centre,
3-5 Shorncliffe Road,
Folkestone,
Kent, CT20 2SQ

Monday to Friday 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tel. 01303 853700

Emergency out of hours:
Tel. 01303 221888

E-mail. housing@shepway.gov.uk