Paying for your accommodation
If you are placed in temporary or interim accommodation by us (for example, while we look into your homelessness application), you may still need to pay rent and service charges.
Here’s how to get help with that:
Apply for housing benefit
Most people in temporary or interim accommodation need to apply for housing benefit (not Universal Credit).
You can apply online through our website - make sure you tell us it’s for temporary or interim accommodation. You’ll need to give details of your rent, income and who lives with you.
If you already get Universal Credit, you still need to apply separately for housing benefit to cover your temporary or interim accommodation.
It is likely your rent will be paid direct to the landlord of your temporary/interim accommodation.
What to do if your rent isn’t fully covered
Sometimes housing benefit doesn’t cover the full rent or service charges. If that happens, you can ask us for extra help through a discretionary housing payment (DHP).
A DHP is a short-term top-up payment to help you manage the shortfall. You can usually apply for a DHP if:
- you already get housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit
- you have a rent shortfall that’s causing hardship (for example, because of the bedroom tax, benefit cap or high temporary accommodation rent)
- you can apply online or ask us for help with the form.
- the accommodation you move into has too many bedrooms for your needs and your housing benefit is reduced and doesn't cover your costs - find out more.
- if your household is larger than the property allows (for example, too many people for the bedrooms available), you may still need to pay rent for your current accommodation while we look for something more suitable.
- if this causes hardship, you can apply for a dhp to help cover the costs.
