Make a homeless application

Once you have registered as homeless on the Lichfield District Homes website, our duty officer will contact you on the same or following day (depending on when you register), or the following Monday (if you register over the weekend), to carry out an initial assessment of your situation.

We'll do this over the phone, as a face-to-face meeting isn’t necessary for the initial assessment - but we can arrange a face-to-face appointment if you need additional support.

Once the initial assessment has been carried out, provided you meet the qualifying criteria and are eligible for help (you are a UK citizen or resident and not subject to any immigration controls), we will arrange an appointment with you.

Creating a personal housing plan and evidence checklist

Your second appointment will be to conduct a full housing assessment to look at your circumstances in depth and devise a personal housing plan. This will help you secure alternative accommodation, or remain in your existing home.

As part of this we will ask you to provide various pieces of evidence. We recognise that providing such evidence can be challenging, especially if you are sofa surfing or have no fixed address, but it is vital you provide it - as providing it makes it possible for us to help you.

We are likely to require the below evidence (which will also be used to support your application to join our housing register):

• Copies of your driving licence, passport or birth certificate.
• Citizenship and/or immigration status.
• Evidence of local connection - for example your 5-year address history or evidence of links to adult relatives who live locally - find out more.
• Copies of your most recent three bank statements.
• Statements from any savings accounts you hold.
• Evidence of your income (for example wage slips or Universal Credit statements).
• Evidence of any benefits you receive (for example DWP award letters).
• Evidence of your National Insurance number (this could be your NI letter, on your wage slips or UC award letters).
• Rent statements.
• A Section 21 (6a) notice, or notice to leave.
• Court orders.
• Crime numbers
• Birth certificates and proof of child benefit for any children.
• Evidence of your health condition(s) - unfortunately we cannot accept your written or verbal explanation of your needs - we usually require evidence from a clinician (such as a doctor or psychiatrist) that explains your health needs and how they impact your housing needs.
• Supporting information from other agencies that are helping you.
• Other priority need evidence - find out more.

The above list is not exhaustive and our team will guide you through the evidence you need to provide and explain why - we will also give advice and guidance on how to gather the evidence where possible.

Please do what you can do to provide the information as soon as possible, as the sooner you get it to us, the sooner we can help you.

Whilst we will always aim to support you to provide the necessary evidence, ultimately it is every applicant's responsiblity to provide it. Not providing the necessary information to us in a timely manner may seriously delay the support we can provide to you. 

How we will work to help you

Stage one - we will work to prevent you becoming homeless

If you are not yet homeless, but are facing homelessness within 56 days, our priority will be to try to prevent you from becoming homeless (this is called our prevention duty). 

We will do this by mediating with your landlord or family, helping you with a loan to reduce rent arrears, assisting you to maximise your income and advising you on your rights as a tenant etc.

We will also help you to make a housing register application. 

Our prevention duty lasts for up to 56 days, unless you become homeless sooner, when the next stage of the process begins.

Stage two - providing relief

If we are unable to prevent you from becoming homeless, or if you are already homeless, you will be given appropriate priority on the housing register (under our relief duty).

If you have priority need or we have reason to believe you may have priority need based on evidence you have provided to us, we may offer you interim or temporary accommodation. 

The relief stage lasts for 56 days - if you have been unable to secure accommodation after 56 days, you will be considered for our main housing duty.

Stage three - main housing duty

Our main housing duty is only awarded to applicants who meet certain criteria, including if you:

• are a UK citizen and are not subject to any immigration control and have recourse to public funds.
• have a priority need (for instance, dependent children that live with you, or medical condition that would make you vulnerable).
• have a local connection to Lichfield District through residence, employment or close family ties.
• are not intentionally homeless in that your actions have caused your homelessness.

If awarded main duty you will be given the emergency band on the housing register.

Find out what it means to be awarded the emergency band and how long you could wait for a new home.

What if you don't qualify for main housing duty?

If you don't qualify for main housing duty, we'll write to you to let you know why.

We will include details of the review and appeal processes so you can request a review if you don't agree with our decision. 

If you don't qualify for main housing duty, you will remain on the housing register, with the appropriate priority banding.