The Homelessness Reduction Act (2017)

There are three 'duties' we must consider when looking at a homelessness application: prevention duty, relief duty, and main housing duty.

Prevention duty

Prevention duty is triggered if the council are satisfied that you are eligible for housing assistance and threatened with homelessness within 56 days.
 

Relief duty

Relief duty is triggered if the council is satisfied that you are eligible for housing assistance and you are homeless, lasting for 56 days.
 

Main housing duty

If you remain homeless after the relief duty has ended, the council will need to make a decision as to whether it owes you a duty to provide accommodation until you are rehoused.

The assessment for this duty will consider whether you are vulnerable and in 'priority need', are not intentionally homeless, and whether you have a local connection to the area. You can find out more about eligibility, priority needs and local connection on our homelessness support page.

If a main housing duty is owed, the council will be under a duty to source suitable alternative accommodation. Any offer of accommodation is likely to be in the private rented sector, due to the high demand for social housing in West Berkshire.

 

Councils have a duty to:

• provide advice and assistance to all households, carry out work which aims to prevent homelessness and provide support to enable customers to remain in their current home
• offer everyone who is homeless, or at risk of homelessness, access to meaningful help, as long as they are eligible for housing assistance
• carry out prevention work for anyone threatened with homelessness within 56 days
• assess whether or not a main housing duty is owed at the end of the relief duty

Even if you are not threatened with homelessness within 56 days, we urge you to contact us at the earliest opportunity. Under the Homelessness Reduction Act, there is a requirement for customers to co-operate with the steps and efforts the council is taking to prevent and relieve homelessness.

The government has produced fact sheets to explain the new legislation. Read the Homelessness Reduction Act fact sheets on the GOV.UK website.
 

If you are at risk of becoming homeless, please email housing@westberks.gov.uk and we will contact you to arrange an appointment.

If you are homeless today, you can speak to an officer by calling 01635 519 530 and choosing option 2. Our hours of service are: Monday to Thursday - 8.30am to 5pm, Friday - 8.30am to 4.30pm.

If you have been made homeless outside of these hours, please call the emergency duty team on 01344 351 999.