Homelessness
Homelessness can affect anyone, at any time.
People can lose their home for many reasons. Families and single
people, young or elderly, men or women can find themselves homeless
through no fault of their own.
Falling out with family members, suffering from or being
threatened with violence, losing your home due to an emergency
such as fire or flood, or eviction from a landlord or repossession
by your mortgage lender outline just a few causes of
homelessness.
Even if you have a roof over your head you can still be
homeless. This is because you may not have any rights to stay where
you live or your home might be unsuitable.
If you find yourself homeless or threatened with homelessness the
first thing you should do is get advice as soon as possible. If you
require an appointment or need advice about being homeless or have
been threatened with homelessness please call the Northumberland
County Council contact centre on:
0845 600 6400
and an advisor will be able to assist you. Alternatively you can
either call in to your local NCC Information Centre for assistance
or email your enquiry to HousingHomeless@northumberland.gov.uk
This leaflet tells you more about the help you can receive from
Northumberland County Council if you are homeless or think you
might become homeless in the near future.
A leaflet for people worried about keeping up with their
mortgage payments
Severe Weather Emergency Protocol
Northumberland County Council, following
Government guidelines, has introduced a Severe Weather Emergency
Protocol (SWEP), which is designed to provide temporary
accommodation for rough sleepers during severe weather.
The protocol will become active if the
predicted night time temperature is likely to be zero degrees
Celsius or less for three consecutive nights.
The Homelessness and Housing Options Team will
check the predicted temperatures on a daily basis and receive email
alerts from The Met Office.
Anyone wishing to assist a rough sleeper in to
temporary accommodation should telephone the Council's service on
0845 6006400, this is a 24 hour
helpline.
Once the temperature is predicted to be above
zero degrees or is below zero degrees for less than three
consecutive nights, the Protocol will be deactivated and the
entitlement to temporary accommodation will end.
Out of Hours Emergency
If you are threatened with homelessness outside of working hours
please contact the Emergency Out of Hours Service 0845 600
6400
No Second Night Out
The statement of the Government’s vision for
tackling rough sleeping, No Second Night Out, was published in July
2011. The policy initiative of the previous Government to reduce
rough sleeping to as close to zero as possible, has led to many
local authorities joining the European pledge to end rough sleeping
by 2012. No Second Night Out marks a significant step towards that
aim. The principle aim of the approach is to make sure that no-one
spends more than one night on the streets. Actions taken focus on
making contact with people as soon as possible, and then developing
a plan for helping them to find accommodation within a very short
space of time.
To deliver No Second Night Out in the North
East all 12 Local Authorities, major providers of services and
other key partners have been asked to sign up to a regional
standard and vision. This vision states
Our vision is to end rough
sleeping in the North East. The first step in doing this is to
ensure that by the end of 2012 no one has to spend a second night
sleeping on the streets.
Underpinning this are a number of sub-regional
and local protocols which ensures that No Second Night Out is
operational across the North East. These set down the sub-regional
approach and joint working mechanisms.
From the 11th December if you are
aware of some-one sleeping rough this can be reported via the
National Street Link number (to be confirmed) or via their website
http://www.streetlink.org.uk/
Useful Contacts
Click on the links below to access other organisations able to
provide you with further advice or assistance:
Shelter
Citizens Advice
Bureau
DAWN
Advice
Housing Advice
You might find some useful information in our
new on-line Advice Wizard. It will take you about 15 minutes
to answer a few questions about your circumstances and the
wizard will provide you with tailored advice about your options and
what to do next.
Click here to
go to the Advice Wizard
For more information see our Advice and
Support page
Helpline details for professionals advising young people,
click
here
Directory of Services
The list of organisations above is not
exhaustive however they provide a first point of
contact and will be able to direct you to other sources
of advice and support.
Click here
to view our Directory of Services
