Homeless Duty Criteria

Everyone is entitled to housing advice from their Local Authority, but if you need further assistance we must find out whether you are eligible to receive this.

Generally, to be eligible for assistance you must normally live in the United Kingdom and be entitled to public funds. However, rules relating to eligibility are quite detailed and we recommend that you seek advice on this.

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 states that you are homeless if you have no accommodation available to you in the United Kingdom or elsewhere or if you have accommodation available to you but:

It is not reasonable for you to live there with the people who would normally live with you as members of your family. This includes partners, children and carers.
You are not legally entitled to occupy the property because you have had a court order requiring you to leave, or you are a tenant with no right to remain where you are.
Your accommodation is not reasonable for you to occupy. For example, it is in poor physical condition and is beyond reasonable repair, or you cannot get it repaired for a good reason.
You are at risk from violence in the property

The Act states that you are threatened with homelessness if you are likely to become homeless within the next 56 days.

What if I'm homeless right now?

If you need somewhere to stay immediately we will need to consider whether you qualify for temporary accommodation. We will provide temporary accommodation if we think you might be in a 'priority need group'.

We consider you to be in priority need if:

You have dependent children
You (or somebody living with you) are pregnant
You have become homeless due to fleeing domestic violence (whether you are a man or a woman)
You have become homeless due to an emergency such as fire or flood
You are aged 16 or 17
You are leaving care and are aged between 18 and 21 and are at particular risk of sexual or financial exploitation
You are homeless on leaving the armed forces
You are vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness or handicap, physical disability, chronic illness
Prison leavers - Whilst an automatic priority is no longer given to offenders on release from a custodial sentence or youth detention accommodation, Local Authorities will consider vulnerabilities as a result of any time spent in custody.

Are you intentionally Homeless?

If you lost your accommodation through a deliberate act which you knew would make you homeless we will consider you to be intentionally homeless. Examples of this may be;

You sold/gave up your home when there was no need to do so and you did not find other suitable accommodation
You did not pay your rent/mortgage when you could afford to do so
You ignored housing advice which would have prevented the loss of your home
You were evicted because of anti-social behaviour

If we consider you to be intentionally homeless we will not provide you with permanent accommodation but will offer advice and help to find suitable accommodation yourself.

Do you have a local connection to the Vale of Glamorgan?

You will be considered to have a local connection if:

You normally live here, or have lived here for 6 of the last 12 months or 3 of the last 5 years
You work in the Vale of Glamorgan (other than in the Armed Forces)
You have a close family member living in the Vale of Glamorgan
There are special circumstances which connect you to the area

If you do not have a connection with the area but have a connection to another area we will refer your homelessness application to the Council in that area. If there is more than one Council where you have a local connection then you can choose which one you would prefer us to approach.