What is statutory homelessness?

Someone may also be found as priority need if they are considered ‘vulnerable’, as they are regarded to be more at risk than other people if they become homeless. Priority need could be given on the basis of vulnerability if someone has a serious illness, health condition or disability, or sometimes if they have fled violence or spent time in care, prison or the armed forces. This decision is made on a case-by-case basis. 

If you have a characteristic that means you always have a priority need, you do not need to prove that you are also vulnerable. So, if you are homeless and are found priority need by the local authority, the council must give you emergency housing. Once you have somewhere safe to stay, they can investigate more permanent housing solutions. 

Prevention duty 

If the local authorities agree that someone is being threatened with homelessness in the near future and is eligible for support, they have to take reasonable steps to ensure that their current accommodation option is not taken away. This is known as prevention duty, and a person doesn’t need to be priority need to receive it. 

One of the things that happens when someone is owed prevention duty is that the council will assess them and create a personalised housing plan (PHP). Prevention duty normally lasts for 56 days, but if an applicant fails to cooperate with this plan, or with the authorities more generally, the duty may be ended. It may also end for several other reasons, including if the person becomes homeless, is given suitable accommodation for six months, or if they refuse a suitable accommodation offer. 

Relief duty 

A person experiencing homelessness is owed relief duty by the local authorities if they are eligible under statutory homelessness. This means that the council must take reasonable steps to help them secure housing. They do not need to be priority need or have a local connection to be eligible for support, but if they are priority need, they must be offered temporary accommodation as soon as possible. 

Someone who is offered relief duty will also work with the council to get a housing assessment and personalised housing plan, but the difference between relief and prevention duties is that someone can only get relief duty once they actually become homeless. So, there will never be any crossover between prevention and relief duties. 

Relief duty usually lasts for up to 56 days – if someone is priority need, not ‘intentionally homeless’, and hasn’t secured housing yet, then they will then receive main duty. However, if they are not priority need, the local authorities are under no obligation to support them after the 56 days of relief duty are over. 

Main homelessness duty 

A person is owed a main homelessness duty by the local authorities if they are eligible under statutory homelessness, have a priority need, and are not ‘intentionally homeless’ by the time that relief duty has ended.  

This means that they must be offered temporary or permanent accommodation as soon as possible, and this accommodation must be considered as ‘suitable’. Once housing that is available for at least six months has been provided, the main duty has been carried out by the local authorities and can be ‘discharged’. 

What does it mean to be found as ‘intentionally homeless’? 

You may come across the term ‘intentionally homeless’ when navigating the statutory homelessness guidance, but what does that actually mean for someone and the support they can access? 

Essentially, local authorities can deem you as intentionally homeless by law if they decide that you’re homeless because of something that you did. This can include things like being evicted from housing due to breaking tenancy agreements or antisocial behaviour, refusal to accept a final housing offer, or not paying rent when you have the money available. 

Being deemed as intentionally homeless can mean that you’re not eligible for main duty, and in some cases can lead to relief duty ending early. It’s worth noting that it is just a legal term – homelessness is hardly ever truly intentional, and there are a great number of reasons why people might find themselves in difficult situations where they are evicted from properties and refuse offers of housing, for example, if the housing conditions are very poor. 

Why do I need to know about statutory homelessness? 

Whether you work with people experiencing homelessness or simply want to understand the support available to people experiencing homelessness, it’s helpful to understand the legal frameworks behind it all. 

While our caseworkers support our guests in numerous ways at Glass Door, not just through working with local authorities, statutory homelessness guidelines do have a large impact on the support they can access.  

For example, before the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, there was no such thing as relief or prevention duties, so the local authorities were only obliged to provide support to people found priority need. This was a huge change in the way it placed more responsibility on local authorities to support people, but it’s debatable how effective it’s been in terms of securing housing – you can read more about it in this blog by Neil, our co-head of casework. 

Today, guests who are homeless but not found to be priority need still only have 56 days of relief duty to find housing, which is not a very long time. This is especially the case in London, where the housing crisis has made the situation particularly challenging to navigate, with soaring rents, extra fees and high competition.  

Until more housing options are available, the amount of support that local authorities will be able to offer is limited, regardless of what statutory guidance says.