How to get help if you are homeless

How can you get in contact with us?

If you’re worried about where you are going to sleep tonight, let us know.

You should come to our Housing Options service at:

Britannia House
Hall Ings
Bradford
BD1 1HX
01274 435999

Town Hall
Bow Street
Keighley
BD21 3PA
01274 435999

If it is outside of normal office hours, contact our emergency duty team on 01274 435999.

If you’re worried about becoming homeless, you should contact us on 01274 435999. The earlier you contact Housing Options, the better chance we will have of helping you.

How we’ll help you

The Homelessness Reduction Act became law in April 2018. This means that the council has a duty to help people much sooner to try to prevent them from losing their home.

Many people believe that if they’re homeless they’re entitled to an offer of council accommodation.  Unfortunately, a lot of people who are homeless don’t always have a right to any kind of housing from the council.

Even if we have a duty to house you, the kind of accommodation you get might not be social housing and it may be a tenancy with a private landlord.

What happens next?

We will need some details about your situation including:

• personal details about yourself and your family
• why you are homeless
• your previous housing
• health information for yourself and your family
• financial information for yourself and your family
• support requirements

This will help us to carry out a full assessment and let you know what we can do to help you. We'll give you support and advice to either find you somewhere to live or stop you from becoming homeless.

As part of the assessment we'll make enquiries to determine if there's a risk that you'll become homeless.

It’s important for you to be open and honest at your assessment so your Housing Options officer can give you the correct advice and support.

Depending on your personal circumstances we might provide you with temporary accommodation while we look at your homeless application. Your Housing Options Officer will discuss this with you during your interview.

Your Personal Housing Plan

If we decide there is a risk that you will be homeless, we will work with you to agree a Personal Housing Plan to stop you becoming homeless or help you find new accommodation if you’re already homeless.

It is important for you to work with us to find a solution and we will agree a list of a actions that you and your Housing Options Officer will take.

You may agree to:

• fill in forms, such as an income and expenditure form, which will show us how much money you spend or have coming in
• be referred to other organisations for advice and support or accommodation
• contact any family or friends to ask them to let you stay temporarily

We may agree to:

• talk to your family or friends if they’ve told you to leave
• help you make a claim for housing benefit or discretionary housing payments
• help you register for social housing or find private rented accommodation
• refer you to other organisations for specialist advice and support, such as the NHS, welfare benefits or debt advice

It's your responsibility to cooperate with us and do things to help yourself while we're trying to sort out your housing problem.

You need to work with us

We may decide that we have no duty to help you if we believe that you're:

• refusing to work with us
• not carrying out the tasks in your Personal Housing Plan that you agreed with to solve your housing problems

We hope that by taking the actions in your Personal Housing Plan and with our support, you won’t become homeless, or if you’re already homeless, you’ll find a place to live.

Further help

If the actions in your Personal Housing Plan haven’t been successful, we may be able to help you further.

The main housing duty is:

• only owed to people in certain situations
• only considered if you’re still homeless after you and your Housing Options Officer have completed the actions in your Personal Housing Plan

The Shelter website explains who we can help in more detail.

Help for people who are sleeping rough

Bradford Council has commissioned a service to help people who are sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough in the district. Humankind run this service, which is called Bradford No Second Night Out.

No Second Night Out is open 365 days a year and offers a range of services to rough sleepers including outreach work, assessments and advice as well as co-ordinating the delivery of the Cold Weather provision for rough sleepers. They can also provide short term emergency accommodation when people have nowhere else to stay.

If you are concerned about someone sleeping rough in Bradford, you can contact No Second Night Out in the following ways:

• By phone on 01274 309165
• By email at bradford@humankindcharity.org.uk.
• In person at Discovery House, 133 Barkerend Road, Bradford, BD3 9AU

If you are at risk of sleeping rough, you can refer yourself.

You can also contact Street Link with details of someone sleeping rough. Streetlink is a national organisation that helps members of the public to connect people sleeping rough with services that can help. Contact Streetlink or you can phone them on 0300 500 0914

Streetlink will forward the details to Bradford No Second Night Out who will then make contact with the rough sleeper.

No Second Night Out will respond to referrals within 24 hours and aims to identify and work with the individual to assess their housing and other needs as quickly as possible.

Cold Weather provision

The Cold Weather provision is a multi-agency partnership that provides emergency bed spaces in Bradford to rough sleepers on freezing winter nights, commissioned by Bradford Council.

The service operates between 1 October and 30 April and opens when the predicted temperature for the upcoming evening is due to fall to zero or below. The Cold Weather partners provide emergency beds for clients in communal rooms, so no-one has to sleep on the streets on the coldest winter nights.

Referrals to the service are made by approaching the Day Shelter,  371 Leeds Road, Bradford, BD3 9NG in person. A lateral flow test will need to be taken to establish if you are Covid positive. The referral desk is open Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 4pm when cold weather is activated. Access to the service over the weekend and Bank Holidays can be made over the phone on 01274 309165 between the same hours.

Referrals will include a brief assessment to try and find a suitable bed space for the client for the night. The Cold Weather partners will also try and help clients find somewhere to live over the long term.

How can I help homeless people?

There are lots of different ways you can help from volunteering to donating to charities who work with local homeless people. Visit Street Support Bradford for more details.