Get help

We have created this page to help anyone who is homeless and needs help. Although HUP doesn’t provide housing, we do have some suggestions to help you get the assistance you need as soon as possible.

What does it mean to be homeless?

Being homeless does not always mean living on the streets. In certain conditions even a roof over your head can be considered homeless, some of which include:

Staying with friends or family.
Staying in a hostel or bed and breakfast hotel.
Living in overcrowded conditions.
At risk of violence in your home.
Living in poor conditions that affect your health.
Living in a house that is not suitable for you because you are sick or disabled.

Help from the council

If you are homeless, ask your local council for help. The kind of help you receive will depend on your personal circumstances including what advice and assistance as well as whether you need temporary or permanent housing.

Make a homeless application

To apply for help, you will need to go to your local council and apply for a homelessness application in person. The council will ask you to fill in an application and a homelessness officer will interview you.

Homeless application: What the Council will look at?

The council will take the following points into consideration.

Are you homeless, and elegible for assistance?
How you became homeless?
Do you have a local connection to their area?

Homeless application: Am I eligible?

If you live in the UK and ara a British citizen, it’s very likely that you will be elegible for assistance. For the most part people who aren’t British citizens and/or don’t have full rights to live here due their immigration status may not be elegible for assistance.

Homeless application: How did you become homeless?

The council has to look into your situation and understand what has led you to becoming homeless. The council will need to be satisfied on the following four points which are to make sure that you didn’t intentionally make yourself homeless.

Deliberately did or didn’t do something.
That caused you to leave accommodation.
Which you could otherwise have stayed in, and
Which would have been reasonable for you to stay in.

Who can make a homelessness application?

Only one person on behalf of the household should apply. Your household consists of:

Anyone who is currently living with you.
Anyone that would live with you of you had accommodation.

Homelessness Interview

At the homelessness interview, you have the following rights:

To be interviewed in a private room where you won’t be overheard.
To decide if you’d like to be interviewed by a man or a woman.
To take a friend or advisor with you.
Have an interpreter if English isn’t your first language.
Have a sign language interpreter if you have a hearing impairment.

During your interview, you will be asked questions about your situation. The questions will be about:

The number of people in your household.
Where you have been living.
Why you had to leave your accommodation and if you will be able to return there.
Any health problems in your households.
Any problems you have had with domestic abuse or other forms of harassment.
Your financial circumstances.

What happens after the interview?

If you have nowhere to stay, the council should offer you temporary accommodation while they look into your situation. The council should also offer to store your belongings, if you aren’t able to do this yourself.

If you weren’t able to get the answers or help you need, please contact the HUP team at info@hup.org.uk and we’ll be more than happy to chat with you.