If you're homeless, or think you might soon become homeless, and you are affected by a long-term health problem like HIV, then your local authority might have a duty to re-house you under the homelessness regulations.
For this to happen you'll need to satisfy five tests which consist of the following conditions:
- You need to be homeless or will lose your home in 28 days.
- You need to be eligible for assistance: you won't be eligible if you are a ‘person from abroad’ who is subject to immigration control, or if you are an asylum seeker who has accommodation in the UK.
- You need to be 'in priority need'. As someone who is living with HIV you may be found to be in priority need if you are 'vulnerable because of … physical disability or other special reason'. There are other reasons for which you can be deemed to be in priority need too.
- You need to be unintentionally homeless; that is, you are homeless not because you deliberately did or failed to do something which resulted in you losing your accommodation.
- You need to have a connection with the local authority where you are making the application. You'll have a local connection if you live or work in the area, or if 'there are other special circumstances', which is where a local authority must exercise its discretion.
If you satisfy the above requirements the local authority will have a duty to house you. If you don't, it will only have a duty to advise you.
If you need to talk these things through, get in contact with THT Direct.
Your rights
Remember: if you're making a homeless application to the local authority, it has the following duties:
- to investigate
- to provide housing while it investigates if they have reason to believe you are homeless and in priority need
- to protect property in certain circumstances.
Your local authority also has a duty to give you a decision in writing. For the decision to be valid it needs to set out your right to ask for a review and the reason for the refusal. In the event that you are not happy with the decision you should ask for a review within 21 days of the date of the decision. At that point we suggest that you call THT Direct for further advice and if you need specialist assistance we will try to put you in contact with a housing specialist in your area.
If you are not entitled to be re-housed under the homelessness regulations you should look for private rented accommodation. If you don’t have enough money for your deposit you should find out whether your local authority has a guaranteed deposit scheme which would help you with this.You might also be eligible to claim Housing Benefit to help you with your rent.
THT can help
If you need support or information, or perhaps just need to talk things through, then contact THT Direct for specialist advice and emotional support. We can also put you in touch with hostels if you need somewhere to stay for a few nights while your housing is sorted out.