If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness it is important that you seek advice and support as soon as possible.
If you are homeless and need our help and support, please contact us:
Freephone: 0808 196 8409
We appreciate that this is a difficult time and that you will be concerned. Please be reassured that we will do our best to respond to your query as soon as we can.
Our aim is to work with you to try and prevent homelessness. The Homelessness and Housing Options Team (HOT) have developed a range of services to help you keep your home, or to find a new one whether that is renting from a private landlord or a registered provider.
Please contact us at the earliest opportunity if you are at risk of losing your accommodation so that we can give you appropriate advice and assistance to try and prevent this from occurring.
If you would like some advice, or would like to make an appointment, please contact the homelessness duty officer:
We provide general housing advice to both tenants and landlords in private and public sector housing.
Some of the things we can help you with are:
You are classed as homeless if you:
We have a legal duty to support you if you are threatened with homelessness and likely to become homeless within 56 days.
Where possible we will take reasonable steps to help you stay in your home. This could be helping you to sort any rent arrears, mediating with your family if they have asked you to leave or working with your landlord to try to resolve any other issues.
If we cannot keep you in your current home, we will help you look for somewhere else to live. You will be given a personal housing plan which lists actions for you to take to help resolve your situation.
We may need to see any paperwork or documentation relating to your circumstances, such as:
This information can be provided digitally. Your household details will need to be taken, along with your five-year address history. The reasons you are facing homelessness will be discussed with you. Following these discussions, if there is reason to believe that you are threatened with homelessness within 56 days, we will arrange a follow-up assessment with you. This could be face to face or over the telephone, whichever works best for you.
During the assessment, we will gather as much information about your housing problem and create a personalised housing plan. We look at what can be done to remove the threat of homelessness to allow you to remain in your home. If measures cannot be put in place to allow you to remain in your home, we work with you to secure alternative permanent accommodation. Due to the shortage of social housing in the area, it is very likely that alternative accommodation could be with a reputable private landlord.
When you have been fully assessed, you will be allocated an officer, who will:
We may be able to provide emergency accommodation if you are homeless. This is a limited service and is dependent on your personal circumstances. We will make the decision based on your situation.
Domestic abuse is any incident of coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial/economic or emotional) between those aged 16 years old or over who are or who have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality. Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and /or dependent by isolating them from sources of support exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour. Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten their victim. This includes issues of concern to black and minority ethnic communities, such as so called 'honour based' violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. If you are experiencing domestic abuse or violence, the homelessness and housing options team (HOT) can find you emergency accommodation and provide help and advice, working with specialist services to ensure you receive the most appropriate support as quickly as possible.
The homelessness and housing options team offers free, confidential advice to anyone who has housing problems. We aim to help people to keep their home or help them to find one that meets their needs. We can help you to understand the different options that are available in Northumberland to solve your housing problems. There is a range of advice and support available in Northumberland. The HOT can help you, or the person you are working with, to understand the different options available to solve housing problems. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone regardless of gender or sexuality. We understand that it can be very difficult to take the first step to get help and if you prefer we can arrange for you to speak to someone who is a specific gender. Phone: Freephone 0808 196 8409 or 0345 600 6400 (Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm including out of hours) In person: At your local Customer Service Centre You can also contact Harbour which is a fully integrated service with a single point of contact available 24 hours a day. Providing confidential, high quality specialist support and advice for women and men who are at risk of domestic abuse. Advice about the services, including support with domestic a buse, can be accessed through the triage service by calling the confidential phone line available any time day or night.
If you have nowhere to go that night you can contact the emergency out of hours number (after 5.00pm or any time at a weekend): 0345 600 6400 (speak to the operator and ask for the Emergency Homeless Officer)
We offer a full assessment and provide advice about different housing options that are available to rough sleepers. This could include emergency accommodation, supported housing or hostels or helping them move back to an area where they have a local connection. Depending on what they need, we may also put them in touch with other people for support. We work with a number of other organisations to provide full support for anyone rough sleeping.
This is a project that aims to make sure nobody has to spend a second night sleeping rough. We work together with other groups to make sure we can achieve this.
We do this in a number of ways:
There is limited access to emergency accommodation and there are no night shelters in Northumberland for people who are rough sleeping, so this means that we need to refer people to hostels out of area. Rough sleepers will be offered accommodation under the homeless legislation if we believe that they are in priority need or vulnerable. Not all rough sleepers can be offered accommodation because they may not be entitled to assistance, for example if they are from abroad. In such cases we will offer outreach support and other assistance, such as from local charities.
In the winter during prolonged periods of severe weather (three continuous nights, or more, of a temperature of zero degrees Celsius or lower, high wind and excessive rain) overnight emergency accommodation for rough sleepers will be offered under the severe weather emergency protocol. This is to prevent loss of life or significant harm to health.
When the protocol is activated it means that the usual rules to determine access to house do not apply and services are available to everyone. This includes all those who may usually be excluded from services, such as being unable to claim most benefits, people who may have previously been banned from accessing services, and those with no local connection.
Once activated the protocol is reviewed on a daily basis until the forecast predicts two or more continuous nights where the temperature is at least one degree Celsius.
The duty of public authorities to refer a homeless person to a local housing authority
The Duty to Refer (DtR) is a duty on specified public authorities to refer service users who they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to local authorities homelessness/housing options teams. The service user must give consent and can choose which authority to be referred to. To register and make an online referral follow this link to the North East Duty to Refer site, alternatively download and complete the Duty to Refer form and email to dutytorefer dutytorefer@northumberland.gov.uk Before making a referral a public body must have the consent of the individual to make the referral and consent to share their contact details with that authority. The individual should be asked to identify the housing authority in England they wish to be referred to. If you have any queries, please contact the homelessness and housing options team TEL: Freephone 0808 196 8409 or 0345 600 6400
The DtR only applies to these specified public authorities in England and individuals can only be referred to a local housing authority in England. However, any other public authority not identified can also make a referral on a voluntary basis.
The public authorities which are subject to the new DtR include:
It is a crime for your landlord to harass you or try to force you out of a property without using proper procedures. If your landlord is using illegal practices of eviction and/or harassment, please contact us for advice and assistance:
You can find more useful information about harassment and illegal eviction on the Shelter website or here on Gov.uk website
Northumberland County Council provides an out of hours emergency homelessness service.
This service is available on Tel: 0345 6006400 or Freephone 08081968409
5pm – 8am Monday to Friday
8am – 8am (24/7) Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday.
Ask for the duty Homelessness Officer.
Privacy Notice Our Privacy Notice describes how we use your personal data to help you with your housing situation
You can download a copy of our Privacy Notice here
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