Services for adults who are homeless

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, Scottish Borders Council is required to provide you with housing information, advice and assistance according to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

Homelessness Services have the responsibility for delivering the Council’s duty to assess homeless or potentially homeless people. In addition, the service ensures that, where appropriate, homeless people are given access to a whole range of support services which are designed to promote social inclusion, social justice and the New Ways agendas.

What to do if you are homeless or threatened with homelessness

If you are facing homelessness or the threat of homelessness you can contact:

your local Social Work office
Homelessness Services
a Homelessness Officer on FREEPHONE 0800 3761138
the out-of-hours service 01896 752111 (24 hours).

The officer who is assigned to your case will arrange an interview which you should attend. They will provide you with useful information and advice designed to increase your housing options and arrange accommodation where appropriate. You should make staff members aware of any particular requirements e.g. a male/female interviewer or sign language interpreter.

Information about all the housing providers in the Borders is available on the Scottish Borders Housing Forum website (this link will take you to an external website).

If you are a woman fleeing domestic violence, you can also telephone 01835 863514 to contact the Borders branch of Women’s Aid (this link will take you to an external website).

The assessment process

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness you will normally be provided with temporary accommodation for a reasonable period (normally 28 days). This allows us to determine responsibility to you and to establish if you qualify for permanent accommodation. Where we have an obligation to provide temporary accommodation, this will be available for a three-month period.

Eligibility criteria

The four main criteria that must be satisfied by applicants are that they:

are homeless
are in priority need
are not intentionally homeless
have a local connection to the area.

Key points to note about each of these criteria are as follows:

Homelessness

Homelessness has many definitions but in normal sense this means that you, and anyone who would reasonably be expected to live with you, either:

have no accommodation - anywhere in the UK - which you are entitled or permitted to occupy
are going to be threatened with homelessness in two months
can no longer be reasonably expected to go on living in your present home - typically because of the threat of violence from another member of the household or because the accommodation is so sub-standard that it presents a real danger to your health.

Priority need

From September 2002 the priority need criteria changed. A person no longer needs to show priority need at the point of application although priority need will still be assessed in determining if you have a right to permanent accommodation. What this means is that the majority of people who are either homeless or threatened with homelessness have a right to temporary accommodation regardless of their priority need. During the course of your stay in temporary accommodation you will be fully assessed in terms of the following criteria:

homelessness or the threat of homelessness
a person who is pregnant or a person with whom a pregnant person resides
a person having dependent children
a person who is homeless or threatened with homelessness because of an emergency such as flood, fire or any other disaster.

Although the following list is not exhaustive, priority need will also be applicable if you are vulnerable due to:

being over 60 or, if younger, in poor physical a mental health
being physically or mentally disabled
being a 16 or 17 year-old or a young person up to and including the age of 21 who was looked after (in care) at school leaving age
or any other 'special' reason, e.g. being 'at risk' of sexual or financial exploitation, alcohol or drug abuse, domestic violence or racial harassment or having recently suffered a miscarriage.

Intentionality

In assessing intentionality, the Council is assessing whether the applicant did or did not do something (deliberately) as a result of which they lost their home, for example:

rent arrears (where it still would have been reasonable to expect payment)
antisocial behaviour
leaving accommodation without seeking alternative accommodation.

Again, this list is by no means exhaustive.

Local connection

In determining local connections, the Council must determine if you have a valid connection with the Scottish Borders. You will have a local connection with the area if you:

have lived in the area for at least 6 months during the last year, or for not less than 3 years during the last 5 years
you, or a household member, are permanently employed in the area
you, or a household member, have close relatives in the area
you, or a household member, are caring for a relative in the area

Applicants would normally have to meet the above criteria before being offered permanent accommodation in the Scottish Borders area. However, people in special circumstances are assessed on a case by case basis. This includes those fleeing domestic violence or someone who has no local connection with anywhere in the United Kingdom. If we find that you do not have a local connection in the Scottish Borders you will not be offered permanent housing in the area. However, where you meet the rest of the criteria we provide temporary accommodation and contact the housing department of the Council you do have a connection with. They may re-house you – this is known as a Section 33 referral.

What to do if you are unhappy with our service

We strive to provide an excellent housing service. However, if you are dissatisfied with our final decision regarding your homeless situation you can appeal. In the first instance, contact the Homelessness Service. They will make arrangements for your homeless application to be reviewed and where necessary will provide you with accommodation until this review is concluded. More information is available in our comments and complaints leaflet (pdf 172kb).

You can also contact the Scottish Borders Council Comments and Complaints service through:

the Customer Care Officer on Freephone 0800 0194490
your local Social Work office.