If you see someone bedding down or sleeping rough, please let us know by:
- using the Street Link website
- or calling our Housing Advice Team on 01242 387615
Homelessness support and advice
We offer support whether you’re homeless or worried about becoming homeless. Homelessness takes many forms:
- Sleeping rough
- ‘Sofa surfing’ from friend to friend
- Staying with family or friends temporarily
- Not having a home that you can legally occupy
- You have a home but can’t secure entry to it or it is not reasonable for you to remain there
Register for housing assistance
If you are threatened with homelessness within 56 days or are homeless now, please follow the link to the Housing Assistance Referral Portal and register.
Register your detailsOnce we have your details, our housing options team will be in touch to offer you advice over the phone.
Homelessness support and advice
Help and advice for the homeless or those at risk of homelessness
If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, contact us as soon as possible for an appointment to see a housing adviser. Depending on your circumstances we may be able to:
- Permanently house you as a result of homelessness
- Provide temporary accommodation or
- Offer advice and assistance.
If you are threatened with homelessness we will need to check that you:
- Qualify for assistance
- Are in priority need
- Are not intentionally homeless
- Have a local connection with Cheltenham.
If there aren't any suitable temporary houses available, we may house you in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation.
Out of hours assistance
If accommodation is needed in an emergency outside of office hours please call our mainline number 0800 408 0000
Before you leave prison
If you’re not going to have anywhere to live when you’re released from prison you must speak to your prison’s housing officer as soon as possible.
If your sentence is for 12 or more months you’ll probably be released on licence. This means you’ll live in the community but you’ll be supervised by the probation service until the end of your sentence.
If you’re going to be released on licence, your resettlement or probation officer may help you find a place to stay, or they’ll make a referral to us on your behalf. In some situations, we may have a duty to provide you with accommodation when you’re released.
We will look at your local connection to Cheltenham
To qualify for help from us you must have a local connection to the area. If you apply to us and do not have a local connection we may refer you to an area where you do have a connection.
You have a local connection with Cheltenham if you live, work, or have immediate family living here for 5 years.
If you have no local connection with any area, you can apply to any council in any area.
Help with money
The prison service will give you a discharge grant when you leave prison. This is money to help with your costs until your benefits are sorted out.
You may be able to prepare for your release when you’re in prison by:
- Saving some of your prison wages
- Opening a credit union account
Ask your prison for details.
Other services who can help you:
Clinks website: directory of voluntary agencies that work with offenders and their families
Shelter: help if you’re an ex-prisoner and homeless
Who you can contact
If you’ve left or are leaving the armed forces and you’re homeless there are a number of agencies who can help you.
Ministry of Defence
If you think you may be homeless after you leave the armed forces, you should contact the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) housing advice service, the Joint Service Housing Advice Office (JSHAO)
They run a referral scheme which may help you to find a housing association home.
You can apply if you’re:
- Married or a separated spouse still living in services family accommodation (SFO)
- Single and living in a hostel within six months of leaving the forces
The MOD runs the Veterans UK helpline which gives advice to veterans in a crisis.
Military charities
Veterans’ Gateway is a group of military charities. They can give you advice about organisations that can help you.
You can get help finding accommodation from:
Single Persons Accommodation Centre for the Ex Services (SPACES)
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA)
You can also approach your local Housing Options service, for Cheltenham you will need to contact:
Cheltenham Borough Homes (CBH) Housing Options service:
Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (10am on Wednesday) on 01242 387615
Or email housingoptions@cheltenham.gov.uk
We will assist you through the Homeless Reduction Act to look for accommodation.
You can apply for a council or housing association home at HomeseekerPlus.
We can also help you find a home with a private landlord.
Before you leave hospital
You should tell the hospital nursing staff as soon as possible, so that they know that you will be homeless when you are discharged. They will ask the hospital discharge team to help if they can.
The discharge team may refer you to the housing options team. We will assess your situation and you may be offered temporary accommodation while your application is being assessed.
If you have a home already but it needs to be adapted, the hospital will refer you to Cheltenham Borough Council’s team who are responsible for adaptations or Disabled Facilities Grant.
Contact information
Call 01242 387615 or email housingoptions@cheltenham.gov.uk
If you are a care leaver
You may be able to get housing and other help from Gloucestershire County Council and your local district council. The help you get will depend on your age and circumstances.
Housing help for children in care
If you are in care, Gloucestershire County Council is responsible for finding you somewhere to live until you are 18. This would usually be foster care but other options are available according to your needs.
Housing help for 18-21 care leavers
It is important to plan for the changes that happen at age 18 and the transition to care leaver, so please discuss your options with your social worker and housing worker before your 18th birthday.
Options include:
- “Staying Put” with your foster family beyond the age of 18
- Supported housing in your local area
- Independent living – only when you can show your independent living skills, and it is agreed jointly between social worker and housing options team. This could be private rent (eg house share) or social housing.
If you are 21-25 and still want support from Gloucestershire County Council’s 11-25 service, please contact your social worker or leaving care worker to find out what is available.
Help and Advice for homeless care leavers
If you are at risk of becoming homeless contact your leaving care worker or local housing options team who will work together to support you to access accommodation. Support will be tailored to your needs and could include
- Telling you what sort of emergency accommodation is available – this will give you an idea of what you can expect
- Checking you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to
- Telling you about the longer term housing options that are available in your area and give you an idea of how much this will cost
- Putting you in contact with specialist support organisations or local schemes that can help
If you are a care leaver aged 18, 19 or 20 years old, your local authority may help. Contact both your leaving care worker and us as we will work together to help you. You are automatically classed as being in “priority need”, which means that the Housing Options Team may help you find a place to live in an emergency.
Temporary placements could include:
- Nightstop
- Crash pad
- Temporary accommodation provided by the local council
The 11-25 Service will also provide other support such as help with health issues, budgeting, training and education. At 18 you can claim Universal Credit if you need to.
If you are no longer classed as a ‘care leaver’ and are homeless, you still may be able to get help from us if we consider you are in priority need.
For example if you:
- Are vulnerable as a result of having been in care
- Haven’t had a stable home since you left care
Temporary placements may be available as above.
What is local connection?
If you were in care in Gloucestershire, then you have a local connection to Gloucestershire for housing options. There are six local authorities that offer housing advice and you should approach the area where you want to live and have an established support network. If you have moved to a different area in the country or you live in Gloucestershire but were in care in a different authority, contact your local housing options team to see what help is available. This will depend on your situation.
Agencies in Gloucestershire that might also help
Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
We work within the Homeless Reduction Act brought in by the Government from 3rd April 2018. The new Homelessness Reduction Act increases the requirements for Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) to help all eligible applicants – rather than just those with a ‘priority need’.
It adds two new duties:
- Duty to take steps to prevent homelessness: CBC will have to help people at risk of losing suitable accommodation as soon as they are threatened with homelessness within 56 days. This means people should get help on receiving a valid notice from their landlord if they are struggling to find a letting, rather than being told to come back when they have a bailiff’s date.
- Duty to take steps to relieve homelessness: CBC will have to help all those who are homeless to secure suitable accommodation, regardless of whether they are ‘intentionally homeless’ or priority need. This should mean that all eligible households are offered help to find a home, rather than some people being turned away. It should also ensure that the true scale of homelessness is recorded.
We can work with you from 56 days of you being threatened with homelessness. We will always notify you of our decision in writing at the prevention, relief and main housing duty stage and advise you of your right to request a review of that decision if you do not agree with it.
Duty to refer
From 1 October 2018, certain organisations have a duty to refer anybody who they believe might be homeless to a local housing authority. Your client must give their permission to be referred, and it’s their choice which local authority they are referred to.
This duty also applies to anybody suspected of being threatened with homelessness.The law that created this duty is the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, Section 10.
The organisations responsible for making these referrals are:
- Prisons and youth offender institutions
- Secure training centres and colleges
- Youth offending teams and probation services
- Jobcentre Plus
- Accident and emergency services provided in a hospital
- Urgent treatment centres (such as walk-in centres)
- In-patient hospitals
- Social service authorities
- Ministry of Defence (for members of the regular armed forces)
What to ask
If you are part of an organisation, whether it is specified or not and believe a client could lose their home (or has already done so), you should ask:
- Have you already been referred to a local housing authority for assistance? There is no need to refer someone who has already been referred by another agency.
- Do you give consent for me to refer you to a local housing authority for help with resolving your housing situation? You’ll need to share basic information about the applicant with the housing authority.
- Which local housing authority would you like me to refer you to?
Choose an appropriate local housing authority:
The client can choose which local housing authority they wish to be referred to. However, it’s sensible to guide them towards the local council that is best equipped to resolve the situation. This will usually be in the area they live in or last had a settled home – unless there’s a threat of violence in that district.
If the client is threatened with being made homeless within the next 56 days, we’ll try to help. If the client needs to find somewhere different to live, we’ll explore their options with them.
If the client is already homeless, we’ll investigate whether they have a local connection with Cheltenham. If they do not, we’ll refer them to the council area where they do have one, unless they don’t have one, or it would be unsafe.
Advice for public authorities
If you are a public authority specified within the legislation, or any other organisation wishing to make a referral to Cheltenham Borough Council please follow the link to the Housing Assistance Referral Portal and register.
Gloucestershire’s local authorities have developed a county wide severe weather protocol (SWEP) in a humanitarian response to prevent deaths on the county’s streets due to extreme cold weather.
This is implemented when there is a temperature forecast of 0 degrees or lower for three or more consecutive dates or a temperature of minus 3 degrees or lower for one night only and applies to everyone who is rough sleeping without the financial means or capacity to secure accommodation during the period of extreme weather.