Tips for emergency help
There are some simple things you can do to help someone you think may be homeless, or at risk of homelessness.
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Immediate action
Is there an immediate and urgent concern for their health or safety? Call 999
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Local outreach
Are they sleeping rough? Refer to local outreach via StreetLink – note that this is not an emergency response.
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Support for minors
Are they under 18? Urgent referral to Social Services
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Local Authority: assessment
Are they homeless and vulnerable? Contact the Local Authority for a homelessness assessment
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Local Authority: support
Are they threatened with homelessness within 56 days? Advice and support from the Local Authority.
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Service connections
Do they need practical or social advice and support? Connect to a local advice service or day centre.
Supporting people through local authority assessment
Mental health professionals play an important role in helping people experiencing homelessness access the support they need. Whilst local authorities perform the homelessness assessment, your evidence about someone's mental health, and the impact it has on their wellbeing, decision making and personal circumstances, may be relevant at several stages of the process.
The following section explains the key criteria that councils apply and highlights where your professional assessment may help inform these decisions.
Is the person legally homeless?
A council may decide that someone is not homeless if they have a home elsewhere, even if it is in another country. However, it must be considered whether it is reasonable to expect them to return to that accommodation.
As a mental health professional, your assessment of how their mental health effects this may be important in the council's decision.
Are they in priority need for help?
A council has a duty to provide interim, emergency accommodation to people who are found to be in priority need. Some groups are automatically considered to be in priority need, including households with dependent children, households that include someone who is pregnant, and people who become homeless because of an emergency such as a fire.
People may also be considered to be in priority need if they are assessed as vulnerable. Mental health needs can be an important factor in this assessment.
When deciding whether someone is vulnerable, the local authority will consider how homelessness would affect their physical and mental health, and their ability to manage everyday activities. It will also consider whether their physical or mental health makes them more vulnerable than a person who is homeless but does not have those health needs.
As a mental health professional, your assessment of how a person's mental health affects their ability to cope with homelessness can help you to advocate for them by providing important evidence to support the council's decision.
Do they meet the immigration conditions, i.e. are they “eligible for assistance”?
In your role, you may not be in a position to provide significant input in relation to this test. However, it is important to be aware of the potential restrictions that non-UK nationals may face.
Are they “Intentionally” homeless?
When deciding what housing duty they owe, a council may consider whether someone is intentionally homeless. For example, a person may be found intentionally homeless if they were evicted because of anti-social behaviour or if they chose to leave accommodation that was considered ‘reasonable’ for them to continue living in.
Your perspective as a mental health professional may be important in helping the council understand the circumstances that led to someone becoming homeless.
For example, it is important for a council to know if behaviours that resulted in eviction or the decision to leave accommodation may have been influenced by mental health symptoms or impaired decision-making.
Do they have a “local connection”?
In some cases, your skills as a mental health professional may enable you to gather information and document a person's history in a way that more fully captures the nature and extent of their connections to a local area.
This information can help ensure that their local connection is understood more accurately than might be possible through the housing assessment process alone.