Homelessness - advice and support

What happens if I am homeless?

Who do I need to contact?

If you are homeless or think you might become homeless in the near future, you should contact the Housing Options Section for advice and information - see right.

What documents will I need to bring?

If you have arranged an interview or intend to drop-in because you are homeless tonight you may need to bring several of the following documents to support your application.

• Proof of identification for all household members (passport, driving licence and so on)
• Proof of income for all household members (wage slips, benefit letters, bank statements showing benefit/tax credit payments)
• Proof of address (tenancy agreement, utility bill and so on)
• If you are about to lose your home you need to provide proof. For example notice to quit, possession order or a letter from landlord or family member.
• If you have children in your household you need to provide proof that you receive child benefit for them.
• Proof of pregnancy if applicable.
• Proof of immigration status if applicable

What am I entitled to if accepted as homeless?

You will be interviewed by an experienced housing advice case worker who will conduct full enquiries on behalf of the council. Your caseworker will be your point of contact throughout your application. If you fail to respond to a request for information or your caseworker loses contact with you then it may be deemed that you wish to withdraw your application.

If, after carrying out our enquiries the council decides that you are not owed a duty under the current housing legislation, usually due to you being either intentionally homeless, not homeless or ineligible, then you have the right to request a review of that decision. All reviews of homelessness decisions are undertaken by an independent officer who is senior to the officer who made the decision and who was not connected with the original decision.

If, after carrying out our enquiries, we are able to house you, you will be offered a home with enough bed-spaces for your household. All accommodation at Maidstone is let on the basis of the bed-spaces it is deemed to have, not on the number of rooms.

Your nomination will be calculated on the following basis:

• Single people will be entitled to a bedsit or one-bedroom flat.
• Couples are entitled to one bedroom.
• Adults and people over 16 are entitled to a bedroom each.
• Two children of the same sex under the age of 16 would normally be expected to share a bedroom - there is a common misconception that there is law stating that it is illegal for children of opposite sexes to share a bedroom - If, however both children are both nearing 16 and are of opposite sexes it may be that you will be offered a property with a bedroom for each.

You are not eligible if:

• You are from abroad and subject to immigration control.
• You are from abroad and you are not habitually resident in the UK.
• You are a British citizen and you have not been habitually resident in the UK for a number of years.

You are considered to be homeless if now or within the next 28 days:

• There is nowhere that you and your family can stay together.
• You no longer have a legal right to stay in your home.
• You have somewhere to live but cannot gain entry to it.
• You are at risk of violence from someone who is living in your home.
• Your home is a caravan or boat and you have nowhere to legally place it and live in it.
• You have a home in which it is not reasonable for you to live, when compared with the housing conditions of other people living in Maidstone.

Intentionally Homeless

If, for example, you have become homeless because you did not pay your rent or mortgage and you could afford to do so, you could be considered intentionally homeless. This means that you have done something deliberately which causes you to be homeless. If you are found to be intentionally homeless, the council cannot house you permanently even if you have children. We can only help for a short while and advise you where to go to find somewhere to live.

Generally, the council will only house you if, you or a member of your household, have a local connection with Maidstone. You may have a local connection if:

• You have lived in the borough for six out of the last 12 months, or three out of the last five years.
• You have permanent work in Maidstone.
• Your close relatives, such as mum, dad, brother or sister, have lived in Maidstone for the past five years.
• You have very special reasons why you must live in the area.

If you have no local connection with Maidstone, we will refer you to another area where you have connections, if it is safe for you to go there.

If you have no connection with any area, we will house you if it is decided we have a duty under current homelessness legislation to do so.

You are considered to have a priority need if you or a member of your family is one or more of the following:

• Pregnant.
• You have a dependent child aged 16 years or under, or aged 17 to 18 and still at school.
• You are 16 or 17 years.
• Vulnerable as a result of a physical or mental disability.
• Homeless due to a fire, flood or similar disaster.
• Forced to leave home because of violence or abuse, and more at risk than most people.

Join the Housing Register list.

Supporting People

Supporting People (SP) is a grant programme which enables the provision of housing-related support services to help vulnerable people maintain or improve their ability to live independently by delivering high quality and strategically planned support services which are cost effective and reliable, and which complement existing care services.  The programme began in 2003 and brought together funding streams from a wide variety of sources including health, probation, housing benefit and social services into one central pot.  In Kent the county council is responsible for administering just over £32 million for Supporting People services.  The programme is much more than a county council activity – it is a working partnership, made up  of representatives from the Kent Primary Care Trusts, Kent Probation, the 12 district and borough councils, and the support agencies who provide and rely upon housing-related support for vulnerable people.

Support might include helping an older person stay in their own home, helping someone coming out of homelessness to move towards having their own home, or helping a woman fleeing domestic violence.  Supporting People generally works with three different broad types of need, which are:

• people in receipt of care with support, for whom housing related support underpins health and social care services;
• people living independently with support only, for whom a small amount of support makes a critical difference in being able to remain independent and
• people experiencing or at risk of social exclusion, for whom housing related support plays an essential part in preventing or dealing with a crisis situation and restoring independence in a

Find out more about Kent County Council's Supporting People programme. 

If you find yourself threatened with homelessness please contact the Housing Options team on 01622 602440

Our out of hours hotline line 01622 602000.