If you’ve been kicked out, evicted, or lost your home in some other way, you need support quickly. Emergency housing for homeless people is available, but how do you find it?
Your local council’s homelessness team might be able to help you get into emergency housing for homeless people. They may be able to arrange a stay in a night shelter or emergency hostel, a placement in temporary accommodation, or a longer-term referral to a supported housing scheme.
You can also look for supported housing placements yourself, and contact the schemes directly.
In this guide, we’ll explain your options for homeless housing, how you can find out whether you qualify for them, and how to get emergency housing.
First, though, if you’re looking for accommodation urgently, Find Your Room is here to help.
Supported housing is a great option for many people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. You’ll get support with learning life skills and managing your health, while still being encouraged to be as independent as possible.
At Find Your Room, we have a supported living search that can help you find available accommodation, so you can move in as quickly as possible. Simply go to our supported living search, enter your chosen location, and filter by Vacant to find properties as quickly as possible.
What are the options for homeless housing?
If you’re homeless, there are a few ways to make sure that you don’t need to sleep on the streets. You could stay with family or friends, find temporary emergency accommodation in a night shelter or hostel, look for short-term housing through your local authority, or apply for a supported housing placement.
Let’s look at your options in more detail, so you can decide what’s right for you and make a plan.
Staying with family or friends
Many people don’t have the option of staying with family or friends long-term. However, if you do have loved ones who might let you stay, you should get in touch with them.
Sharing space with family or friends can be difficult, especially if you’ve never lived together before, or if you feel like you have different values. We’ve put together some brief advice on how to avoid too many issues when living with a friend or family member.
Five tips for keeping your relationships healthy while living with family or friends:
- 1. Set an end date: If possible, tell your loved ones how long you’ll be staying. If you know that you have access to new housing in three weeks, make that clear up front – don’t say that you’ll only be crashing there for a couple of nights when you know it might be longer.
- 2. Explain how you’re working to improve your situation: You shouldn’t have to account for every minute of your day, but your friends or family might be reassured to know that you’ve been looking at properties, applying for jobs, or getting medical help.
- 3. Avoid making extra work for others: Clean up after yourself, get involved with preparing meals, and try to make sure that you’re contributing to keeping the household running.
- 4. Spend time outside the home: Spending all day in someone else’s home can be stressful for everyone concerned. Take time to go for walks, go to the library, and have some time where you’re not in the house.
- 5. Communicate openly and honestly: Share how you feel, and listen when your loved one does the same. Take responsibility for mistakes or times when you accidentally push boundaries, and regularly check in with how everyone is coping with the situation.
Night shelters and emergency hostels
Night shelters and emergency hostels provide temporary emergency accommodation for people who are homeless. They’ll often also provide you with a shower and a hot meal.
Some night shelters are only open during the winter months – these are also called winter shelters or winter hostels.
Most night shelters and emergency hostels will have rules, including:
- Curfews
- Bans on alcohol and drug use (as well as rules about whether you can stay there when you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs)
- Expectations for your behaviour while you stay there
- Restrictions on whether you can spend time there during the day
- Restrictions on how many consecutive nights you can stay there
They’re also usually segregated by gender, so you may not be able to stay with a partner of the opposite sex. Depending on their rules, you may not be able to bring pets.
Night shelters are often free, whereas you may need to pay rent to stay in a hostel. If you can’t afford to do this, staff at the hostel will usually be able to advise you about claiming benefits to cover the cost.
Shelters and hostels usually fill up very quickly, and you generally need to get a referral from your local council’s homelessness team.
Refuges
If you need to leave your home because of domestic abuse, you may be able to get a place in a refuge.
Refuges provide emergency housing for people who have had to leave abusive relationships. They’re usually ordinary houses, where you’ll live with other people who have also escaped abuse. Staff can help you apply for benefits and plan your next steps.
There aren’t many refuges available for men, and women with sons over the age of 12 may also find it difficult to find a place in a women’s refuge.
If you’re a woman looking for urgent help to leave your abuser, contact Refuge or Women’s Aid for advice.
Temporary accommodation through the local authority
Your local council has a legal duty to support you if you become homeless or you’re at risk of homelessness.
They may arrange temporary accommodation for you at first – although, depending on your situation, you may stay in this accommodation for months or even years.
Depending on your circumstances and what’s available in your area, they may offer you one of several different types of emergency housing for homeless people, including:
- A room in a shared house, hostel, or B&B
- A placement in a refuge
- A property owned by the local authority or a housing association
- A property owned by a private landlord
- A supported housing placement
You may need to pay rent in some situations, although your housing officer will be able to help you apply for benefits to cover the costs.
The council will try to find housing for you that’s near where you currently live. This means you can continue working, sending your children to the same school, and spending time with family. However, depending on what’s available in your area, your local authority may not be able to find somewhere nearby, and they may offer you somewhere further away.
Supported housing
Supported housing placements can help people who need a little extra support to live safely and independently.
In a supported housing scheme, you’ll be encouraged to be as independent as possible and set goals for yourself, such as attending college, finding a job, or going to the gym.
You’ll also get support from trained staff, who can help you learn life skills, remind you to take your medication, and check in on you regularly to make sure you’re okay.
Supported living schemes might be able to help you if:
- You’re autistic
- You’re living with mental illness
- You have a brain injury, brain damage, or a learning disability
- You have a history of drug use or alcohol abuse
- You’re a care leaver
- You’re a young parent
- You have recently left prison
- You’re over a certain age (usually 60 and above)
For some people, supported housing is a temporary solution, but other people might stay there for years or even the rest of their lives.
You’ll usually need to pay to live in supported housing, but there’s often help available to cover the costs. Find out more about paying for supported living.
Long-term rented housing
Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to arrange a long-term rental. This could be an affordable property rented through a housing association or your local authority, or a privately rented property.
You can contact your local council’s housing team or housing associations directly, look for rental properties on sites like Rightmove or Facebook Marketplace, or register with local estate agents.
Your local council may also offer you a long-term tenancy after you’ve been in temporary accommodation for a while. The amount of time you have to wait will depend on demand in your area, and this might take quite a while.
Do I qualify for emergency housing?
To be eligible for emergency housing from the council, you usually need to be homeless, have a connection to the area, and have a suitable immigration status. Depending on what’s available in your area, you may also need to show that you have a priority need, and that you didn’t intentionally make yourself homeless.
Do you have a local connection? If you can prove that you currently or previously lived in the area, you have family and friends nearby, your children attend school in the area, or you work there, the local council will try to help you.
Are you intentionally homeless? If you’ve chosen to leave a suitable home with no risk of violence, the local authority may not be able to help you find accommodation.
Are you eligible to receive assistance? If you’ve been asked to leave the country, you’re subject to a sponsorship agreement, or you fail the habitual residency test, you may not qualify to get support with housing from the council.
Do you have a priority need? The council will prioritise certain groups of people who are considered more vulnerable.
If you answered yes to these questions, you should qualify for emergency housing from your local authority.
Do I have a priority need?
- Are you pregnant?
- Do you have dependent children living with you?
- Are you escaping domestic violence?
- Are you over 60?
- Do you have a physical disability, learning disability, or mental illness?
- Are you under 18?
- Were you in the care of the local authority when you were under 18?
- Have you recently left the armed forces?
- Have you recently left prison?
If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you may be classed as having a priority need by your local council.
Even if you don’t have a priority need, your local authority may still be able to support you to find emergency housing.
In most cases, your local council will look at your homelessness application if you will be homeless within 28 or 56 days. Contact the homelessness team as soon as possible, so that they have time to help you before your current tenancy runs out.
Note: You don’t need to be sleeping rough to be considered homeless. You may be homeless if you’re currently living with friends or family but they want you to leave, if your landlord has locked you out, or if your home is unsafe due to violence or overcrowding.
How can I get emergency housing?
If you’re homeless, or at risk of homelessness, you should start by contacting your council’s homeless department.
Shelter has a page that lets you find the contact details of your local council’s homelessness team.
If you already have a social worker, you should also contact them directly.
Homelessness charities like Shelter or Crisis might also be able to offer advice. These are national organisations, but there might also be local charities that focus on your area as well. Search online, using phrases like “homeless help near me”.
If you think that supported housing could help you, Find Your Room is here to support you.
Use our website or app to find supported living schemes near you, and contact them directly. You can filter your search by availability, so that you know the properties you contact will have space for you.
