Housing Advice Service
Homelessness
Whether you qualify as a homeless person for housing depends on your individual circumstances.
The Housing Act 1996 Part VII and subsequent legislation sets out the legal duties of local authorities towards people who are homeless or about to be made homeless. However, we do not have to provide permanent housing to all homeless people.
Do you have a priority need?
You are considered to have a priority need if you or a member of your family is 1 or more of the following:
- Pregnant
- You have a dependent child aged 16 years or under, or aged 17-18 and still at school
- You are 16 or 17 years
- Vulnerable as a result of a physical or mental disability
- Homeless due to a fire, flood or similar disaster
- Forced to leave home because of violence or abuse, and more at risk than most people
Homeless Persons Team
All homelessness applications made to us are looked at by our Homeless Persons Officers. Most of the referrals we see come to us through the housing advice team.
Our aim is to find ways to prevent homelessness and complete application enquiries as soon as possible.
Before a decision is made on whether temporary or permanent accommodation should be allocated, we will hold a series of interviews with you where we find out the details of your impending or actual homelessness.
The service we provide is currently being reviewed so we can better serve your needs but we are currently striving to:
- Improve our performance on homelessness decisions made
- Reduce our use of Bed and Breakfast accommodation; and
- Reduce the current length of time our clients stay in a hostel or Bed and Breakfast accommodation
Homelessness Strategy and Review
We published our first Homelessness Strategy (
PDF 292K) in consultation with our partners, providers, service users and other stakeholders.
We also published a Review of Homelessness in Barking and Dagenham ( PDF 363K) that deals with the gaps in knowledge and identified services. This has allowed us to build on the positive work we have already done to further improve the service we provide.
Code of practice
Homeless Persons Officers carry out assessments in accordance with the provision of the Housing Act 1996, Part VII, Homelessness Act 2002, Homelessness Code of Guidance, relevant case law and council practices and procedures.
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