Duty to refer
Anyone can refer a service user to us. Certain public bodies have a duty to refer individuals that they think may be homeless or at risk of becoming homeless within 56 days to a housing authority.
The bodies which must refer are:
- prisons (public and private)
- probation services (including Community Rehabilitation Companies)
- accidents and emergency services provided in a hospital
- urgent treatment centres
- hospitals in their capacity of providing in-patient treatment
- Jobcentre Plus
- the Regular Forces
- secure colleges
- secure training centres
- social service authorities
- youth offending teams
- youth offender institutions
How to refer
Before making a referral, you must:
- get consent from the service user to make the referral and for their contact details to be passed onto the housing authority
- give the service user the opportunity to choose which housing authority in England they would like to be referred to
What to expect from us
Once we have received your referral, we will contact the service user.
We will only complete a homeless application for referrals if we have reason to believe that your service user is homeless or is at risk of becoming homeless within 56 days.
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