We can only support eligible homeless people. You will have more control over your housing if you can avoid becoming homeless.
Our statutory duties if you become homeless
If you become homeless, the support we can offer will depend on your circumstances, and our statutory duties.
We have up to 56 days to help prevent you from becoming homeless.
If you do become homeless, you can apply for help from us. We will ask for information about you to check that you are eligible for our help.
If you are eligible for our help, it could take time for us to decide the kind of support we must offer you. While you wait for our decision, we could offer you short-term or interim accommodation.
If we have a statutory duty to house you, we will advise and support you to move to a new home that you can afford. However, you should try to find your own housing. You should not wait for us to contact you.
Our housing policy – affordable rents outside of London
Your new home must be affordable. There is a severe lack of affordable homes in Enfield. This means that the emergency and rented housing we offer you is likely to be outside of the borough.
You might have to live outside of London and where the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will cover your rent.
You will only get one offer of suitable housing from us. Our housing offer will be based on your circumstances, and our housing placement policy.
The main stages of a homelessness application
- Confirming you are homeless, or threatened with homelessness, and eligible for homelessness help from us
- Signing up to our online system (you will need an email address)
- Your address history and other details about your household
- Assessment, duty decision and your personal housing plan
- Moving to a home you can afford
- Decision and end of our legal duties
1. Confirming you are homeless, or threatened with homelessness, and eligible for homelessness help from us
We can only support eligible people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
You could be homeless if you:
- have no home in the UK or elsewhere that you have a legal right to occupy
- have a movable home, for example a boat or caravan, and there is nowhere you can legally put it
- are at risk of harm if you stay in your current home
You could be ‘threatened with homelessness’ if you:
- are likely to become homeless in 56 days
- have received a valid notice to quit (for example, a section 21 notice)
- have received a notice of seeking possession (NOSP), and this notice expires within 56 days
If you are not a British or Irish national, we will need more information from you to decide how we can help you. The charity Shelter has guidance on homeless applications (immigration and residence).
You might also need to have a local connection to Enfield. We will ask you:
- how long you have lived in Enfield
- if you work in Enfield
- if you have close family in Enfield
- about other special circumstances
If you have a local connection to another area, we might refer your case to the council for that area.
2. Signing up to our online system
If you are eligible for our help, the next stage is your application.
You will need your own email address to receive and reply to our messages. If you do not have an email account, you can create an email account for free.
We will email you a link to activate your online homelessness application account.
3. Your address history and other details about your household
After you activate your online homelessness account, you will need to add your:
- recent address and other places you have lived in the past 5 years
- household details
4. Assessment, duty decision and your personal housing plan
When your application is complete, we will:
- assess your circumstances and needs
- decide if we owe you a duty, and what that duty is
- if required, help you to complete a ‘personal housing plan’. This plan says what you need to do to get a new home and how we will help.
5. Moving to a home you can afford
We want to match you to a suitable home that is within your budget.
Enfield has a severe shortage of affordable private rented housing. You might move to short-term accommodation while we assess your needs. You could also move directly to longer-term housing outside of London.
You will need to:
- contact us to let us know about changes in your circumstances
- tell us what you have done from your personal housing plan
Take control of your housing
Please do not wait for your caseworker to contact you. For more control of your housing, you could:
- find a private home to rent and get one month’s rent and deposit from our ‘Find your own home’ scheme
- register with our housing partners
- consider shared ownership
6. Decision and end of our legal duties
Single offer of housing
We will consider your household’s needs and the amount of rent you can afford to pay.
If we have a legal duty to help you get a new home, we will make one offer of suitable housing.
‘Suitability’ depends on:
- the duty we owe you
- the type of accommodation we are offering
- your household’s circumstances
Our housing offer will likely be a private sector rental property on the open market. You would be competing with other renters who could respond quickly. If you want to accept an offer, you will have little time to confirm your acceptance.
Accept an offer first then request a review
You should accept our offer of housing.
The timing to accept an offer, and how to request a review, should be in your offer letter. You normally have 21 days from the date you receive our decision letter or email to request a review.
If you think the property is not suitable, you can request a review after you accept our offer.
When you accept our offer, and then ask for a review, you will have somewhere to live while you wait for the outcome of the review.
If you refuse our offer, you can still request a review. But if you are in housing we have provided, you might have to move out and find somewhere else to live.
Ending our duties to you
If you do not accept, or if you refuse to accept, a suitable offer of housing, we will check if you are eligible for further help from us.
After we have completed the statutory duties we owe you, we will close your case.
Becoming intentionally homeless
If you do not accept our housing offer, then:
- we could end our duty to house you
- you might not be able to stay in housing we have provided
- we may consider you to be ‘intentionally homeless’
Being intentionally homeless could affect the help you can get from us or another local authority in the future.
Find out more about offers, reviews and how we could help you
Above is a summary of what happens during a typical application. Your experience might be different depending on your needs.
Please ask your caseworker about applications, offers, reviews, and ending our statutory duties.
Further homelessness help
Advice and resources if you are: