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Homelessness - Advice and Support

If you are homeless or about to become homeless, we can offer you advice, help and support.

We will need to ask you all about your situation to assess how best to advise you and ideally help prevent you becoming homeless. Alternatively we will try to help you to find somewhere else to live and, in some cases, we may be able to provide temporary accommodation.

Firstly contact us at the Council's  Homelessness Section  and discuss your personal circumstances with us so we can assess how we can help and support you to resolve your housing difficulties:

Our contact details are:
Mon - Fri   9am - 5pm                                                          01746 713206
Outside of Office Hours (In case of emergency)            01746 713100

The Council has clearly defined responsibilities which are set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Act 2002. If you would like to know more about this please contact us for further information or alternatively, click on the link to go to the Government's website to find out more.

Ways we can help you

• Designated phone number for you to ring ensuring you get through to the right Section  quickly
• Emergency out of hours service
• Interpreter if you need one
• Support if you have other communication difficulties
• Wheel chair accessible offices
• Home visit if you need one
• Homeless Prevention advice and support
• Same gender interviews - in cases of domestic violence and similar situations, we can arrange for you to see a same gender officer if you prefer
• We will make an appointment available to you within 3 working days
• We will see you on the same day if you are homeless now or homeless in an emergency

 

Homelessness Prevention Service

When you contact us, we will ask about your situation so that we can begin to assess the options available to you and also to establish what the Councils responsibilities are in your particular circumstances.

Our main purpose will be to work with you and support you where possible to prevent the loss of your accommodation or to help you find suitable alternative accommodation.  We will inform you of the range of housing options available including, private rented accommodation, supported housing and social housing providers.

If your landlord is evicting you - we will try to reach an agreement that may result in you being allowed to remain in your home for a longer period of time.

If you cannot afford to pay the deposit on Private Rented Accommodation - we can help put you in touch with a number of schemes and initiatives locally which may be able to help with this cost.

If you have been asked to leave your family home - we can help negotiate with your family for you to stay at home until you find somewhere else, with our support.

These are just a few examples of how our Homeless Prevention Service can help prevent your homelessness. 

Please contact us to discuss your individual circumstances.

  

Contact Us
By telephone 01746 713206 By email By letter Homeless Service Housing & Property Services Bridgnorth District Council Westgate Bridgnorth WV15 5AA	In an emergency situation contact us by telephone 01746 713100   For further help, you can contact Shelter - the housing and homelessness charity

Domestic Violence

We can help you to access a wide range of specialist support services and safe accommodation options locally and nationally to support victims of domestic violence.  Bridgnorth District Council has a specialist outreach service for victims of domestic violence which is accessible via our Homeless Section.

Hereford & Shropshire Helpline  -  0800 7831359
National Helpline                            -  0808 2000247    

Specialist Support Services

If you have a need for support, we can help you to access a wide range of support services to meet your individual needs.

When Homelessness cannot be Prevented

If you are eligible for assistance, we will complete  a Homeless Application with you and will make a formal decision on how the Council can help you.  There are a number of elements which we need to consider and these are determined by the Housing Act 1996 and Homelessness Act 2002. 

The assessment process can sometimes appear to be complex and confusing but we will keep you informed and help you to understand the process at each stage of the application.  We will also confirm all decisions in writing with a full explanation of why we have made that decision.

Homeless Application Assessment Process

When we assess your application, we will need to establish the following:

1. Are you Eligible for Assistance 

• we need to know if you were born outside of the UK
• if your stay here subject to Home Office restrictions
• if you lived in the UK for the last 2 years

 2. Are you actually Homeless

• we will need to establish if you are actually homeless or threatened with homelessness
• we need to know if you have any other accommodation which you can legally occupy

3. Are you in Priority Need
(defined as)

• pregnant or have dependent children
• vulnerable
• victim of an emergency such as fire or flood
• aged 16/17
• in fear of your safety
• some former prisoners
• some people who were looked after in the Care System

4. Are you Intentionally Homeless

• have your actions or lack of action resulted in your homelessness

5. Do you have a Local Connection with this District or another District

• If you do not have a local connection we will discuss this with you and may refer you back to the Authority where you have an established local connection.

For more information on Local Connection please click on the link to read our "Finding a Home" Booklet

Temporary Accommodation

We are able to provide temporary accommodation in certain circumstances if you need it. These responsibilities are defined within the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Act 2002.    Please  contact us to discuss your particular needs

In this District, should we need to provide temporary accommodation, it could be one of the following:

• Property available to you on a short term Licence agreement
• Supported accommodation
• Bed & Breakfast Accommodation

You may be required to contribute or payback certain temporary accommodation costs.

Right to Review

You have a right to request a review of any Homelessness decision we make. We will explain how to do this in your formal decision letter.

Homelessness Strategy

Every Authority has a responsibility to produce a Homelessness Strategy.  Consultation on the draft 2008 -2009 Shropshire Homelessness Strategy Action Plan has just finished (22 June 2008). You can find more details by following the link