If you become homeless

Please seek help as soon as you think you may be at risk of losing your home. This will give us more time to help prevent you becoming homeless or to help you find somewhere else to live.

There is also advice for people who are sleeping rough.

The Housing Needs Advice and Support team offer advice and support if you are homeless or worried about becoming homeless:

• Open Monday to Thursday, 9am – 5pm and Friday 9am – 4pm (no appointment needed for initial advice)
• Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2AX
• 023 9283 4989
• Contact form

A very limited service is available outside of these hours for crisis situations only on 023 9282 4244.

If you are homeless or are at risk of homelessness, we can arrange for you to see a member of our team. We would then:

• If you are worried about becoming homeless, give you advice about the next steps
• Assess your current housing situation and what your housing needs are
• Look to agree a housing plan with you, which would outline how we can work together to help you find a permanent home
• Assess whether you might be in ‘priority need’ – this depends on how vulnerable you would be when homeless, and would affect whether you are entitled to temporary accommodation while your application is assessed.

The steps we take to help you will depend on your situation. Some examples of the help we can offer:

• Support to negotiate with family members or your landlord to help you stay in your home
• Financial assistance to help you keep your current home or to secure other accommodation
• Assess whether you could join the housing waiting list

We aren’t always able to help you stay in your home or get into other accommodation within the time we aim to. In these situations, we need to make a decision as to whether we have a duty to ensure you have accommodation – this will depend on your level of vulnerability and the cause of your homelessness.

You may disagree with a decision we make, in which case you can request a review.

Independent, free advice is available from Advice Portsmouth.

The Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) came into effect on 3 April 2018 and changed the way that we deal with any eligible person who is homeless or at risk of homelessness. Helpful guidance explaining these changes can be found in fact sheets produced by the Government and in further detail in the code of guidance which sets out what councils must follow to deliver the required homelessness services.

We are able to give you advice for your specific situation if you get in touch. We will also be able to give you specific, face-to-face advice if you find yourself in one of the situations listed on this page. This does not cover all the advice we can offer.

• If you have recently left prison
• If you are a care leaver
• If you are a former member of the armed forces
• If you have experienced domestic abuse
• If you have recently left, or are about to leave hospital
• If you have a mental illness or impairment
• If you are aged 16 or 17

You should tell the hospital nursing staff as soon as possible that you think you will be homeless when discharged. The hospital discharge team may contact the Housing needs Advice team at the Council on your behalf. We would then begin our assessment of whether you would be entitled to temporary accommodation whilst your application is assessed

• We can work with you early to try to help prevent you from becoming homeless
• We will consider the views of any anyone you have supporting you when assessing what housing you need and what support you might need to find and keep somewhere to live. This might include a support worker or a health professional

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 introduced a duty on public authorities to refer service users who may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to housing authorities. Portsmouth City Council is part of the Hampshire Homelessness Referral protocol. If you are a public body wishing to make a referral, you can email this referral form to dutytorefer@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or dutytorefer@secure.portsmouthcc.gov.uk