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Home Page > Housing > Homelessness and prevention
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HOMELESSNESS 

 

You may be homeless if you have no accommodation which you may reasonably occupy in the UK or the rest of the world.

 

If you feel that this may apply to you or may apply to you in the near future you should contact Melton Borough Council at the earliest opportunity to see if there is anything we can do to help your situation and try and prevent you from becoming homeless.

 

Should this not be possible we will arrange for you to come in for a homeless assessment interview, this will usually be 28 days before you are due to be made homeless. When attending your interview it is important that you bring with you all relevant documents/information such as any court orders, notice to quit/notice seeking possession, you may also be asked to provide information specific to your circumstances, it is extremely important to provide all information requested at the earliest opportunity.

 

If we have reason to believe that you are homeless or threatened with homelessness within 28 days we will make enquiries to decide whether you:

Are eligible for assistance

  • Have a ‘priority need’ for assistance
  • You are homeless ‘Intentionally’
  • Whether you have a ‘local connection’ to Melton Borough

When our enquiries are complete we will issue you with a written decision, if you do not agree with our decision you should submit a written appeal to the Senior Housing Options Officer within 21 days of receiving your decision letter.

 

Priority Need

 

There are certain people who automatically fall into this category they are:

  • Pregnant women or someone who lives or is reasonably expected to live with a pregnant woman.
  • 16/17 year olds, 18-21 years olds who have left social services care.
  • Parents or guardians of dependent children under 16 years old or under 18 if they are still in full time education or training.
  • People who are homeless as a result of an emergency such as fire or flood.

There are other people who may fall into this category but investigations would have to take place into whether they were more vulnerable than an ordinary person faced with the same circumstances, they are:

  • Elderly people
  • People suffering with Mental Illnesses
  • Physically disabled people
  • People who have suffered violence or threats of violence which are likely to be carried out
  • People who have served a custodial sentence or been on remand
  • People who have served in HM Forces
  • People who have a drug or alcohol dependency
  • Care leavers aged over 21 years
  • People who are classed as former refugee’s or asylum seekers

Single people or couples under state retirement age without children and who are not considered vulnerable do not usually fall into the ‘priority need’ category.

 

Intentional Homelessness

 

You may be homeless or threatened with homelessness ‘Intentionally’ if:

  • You or a member of your household deliberately does or deliberately fails to do anything, which causes, or is likely to cause you to lose your accommodation when it would have been reasonable to continue to occupy your accommodation. Eg failing to pay rent/mortgage or failing to claim housing benefit.
  • You have failed to secure ‘suitable alternative accommodation’, when it would have been reasonable to do so.
  • Failing to take advice from a suitably qualified person which would have enabled you to remain in your current accommodation.

Melton Borough Council may find you to be intentionally homeless if you left a home in which you could have stayed, or if it was your fault that you lost your home.

 

If you are facing homelessness, always get advice before leaving your home.

 

If you are found to be ‘intentionally homeless’ Melton Borough Council will find you somewhere to live temporarily for a reasonable time (this may be in a hostel or a bed and breakfast outside the Borough) and will give you appropriate advice and assistance.

 

Local Connection

 

You have a local connection with the Melton Borough Council area if you:

  • Are normally resident in the area, either for six out of the last twelve months or for three out of the last five years.
  • Have permanent employment in the area.
  • Have close family connections (mother, father, brother, sister or grown up children) who have lived here for at least five years and whom you wish to live near.

Please note that things like school, college or distant relatives will not count as local connection.

 

If you are homeless, have a priority need and are not intentionally homeless but do not have a local connection to Melton Borough Council it is likely that we will refer you to a local authority that you do have a local connection with providing that you would not be at risk of domestic violence in that area.

 

What happens next?

 

If Melton Borough Council accepts a duty to rehouse you we will provide you with temporary accommodation should you need it, this accommodation is only available in an emergency (when you have nowhere else to go) and it may not be the size or type of accommodation you want or in an area you wish to live.

 

Permanent rehousing will happen through the housing register, you will be given additional points to give you ‘reasonable preference’ on the register. There will be other people in the same or similar situations to you and they will also have reasonable preference, when there are a number of people with the same amount of points, properties are allocated in date order. Therefore it is likely that even when you have your homeless points it may still be a considerable wait for a permanent property.

 

Melton Borough Council can discharge it’s duty towards you as a homeless person either by allocating you a council property, nominating you to a housing association or helping you to gain accommodation in the private rented sector.

 

Homelessness Strategy

 

Link to Melton Borough Council's Homelessness Strategy and Delivery Plan

 

Further Advice

 

Shelter's 'Get Advice' web pages are available at http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice and are full of information for anyone with a housing related-problem.

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