Homelessness, social housing and emergency accommodation

Access to homelessness advice

• We can provide advice about homelessness support over the phone. You should not come to the council offices as face to face appointments are no longer available.
• To book an appointment for a phone call with a member of the housing team please call 01424 451100. You can also use our online housing triage form.
• A housing officer will call you back on the number you give us, so you will not be charged for the call
• You may be asked to give consent over the phone for us to carry out further enquiries, so we can help you with your case.
  

If staff cover is significantly affected over the weeks to come, we will prioritise cases who are at the most imminent risk of homelessness. This may result in delays for other homelessness prevention cases and homelessness decisions being issued.

People living in emergency accommodation

• Current advice from Public Health England is that people should be provided with self-contained temporary accommodation if they are displaying symptoms, to enable them to self-isolate.
• The Secretary of State announced £3.2m emergency funding to help fund rough sleepers to self-isolate.
• The council has allocated a small number of self-contained units within our own emergency accommodation stock, to provide accommodation for people who need to self-isolate. We are also approaching local hotels, to secure additional accommodation which can be used to decant individuals not displaying symptoms to free up self-contained units.
• If it is not possible to provide self-contained accommodation, guidance from Public Health England is that individuals with symptoms should limit their use of shared spaces.
• We have contacted our existing emergency accommodation providers to share government guidance and ensure they have appropriate measures in place. Many providers have already adjusted their working practices, including organising additional cleaning rotas and providing hand sanitisers for their tenants.
• Hotels and hostels provide homelessness services are not required to close under new government guidance.
• Where people live permanently in caravan parks or are staying in caravan parks as interim abodes where their primary residence is not available, they may continue to do so.
  

People who are rough sleeping

• There are currently around 5 people how are rough sleeping in Hastings on a typical night. We are proactively looking to accommodate rough sleepers in temporary accommodation.
• The outreach team are continuing their rounds, and engaging with known rough sleepers tomorrow with further advice about the accommodation support the council can provide.
• The Rapid Rehousing Pathway and Rough Sleeping Initiative teams are continuing to provide support, e.g. ensuring people have access to food and other essential services. Officers carrying out outreach have been reminded to take extra precautions to minimise the risk of transmitting the virus.
• Current guidance from Public Health England is that day centres for rough sleepers can remain open, and our local providers are reviewing their own contingency plans.

Social housing

• No social housing properties will be advertised until further notice.
• No sign-ups for new housing will take place until further notice.
• Many social landlords are only able to carry out emergency repairs. Your landlord will provide more information about this.
• If you already live in social housing and need help and advice, please contact your landlord directly.