Housing and Homelessness
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This chapter provides some guidance for adult social care practitioners about housing and homelessness in the context of adult social care needs and safeguarding.
Note: Local Housing Authority practitioners should always refer to their own procedures and all relevant legislation.1. Housing and Adult Social Care
The Care and Support Statutory Guidance describes housing as:
“a place which is safe, healthy and suitable for the needs of the person, so as to contribute to promoting physical and emotional health and wellbeing and social connections.”
“a safe, suitable home can contribute to physical and mental wellbeing and can provide control over day-to-day life and protection from abuse and neglect. It can enable participation in work or education, social interactions, and family relationships.”
Under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, the suitability of living accommodation is a component of individual wellbeing and therefore integral to achieving the best possible adult social care outcomes.
The following table provides some examples of how safe and suitable housing could positively impact the different areas of need under the Care Act 2014:
| Area of need | Example |
| Manage and maintain nutrition | The kitchen accommodates any aids the person needs. Kitchen appliances and worktops are at the right height to enable the person to use them independently and safely. |
| Maintain personal hygiene | The bathroom is accessible to the person. Adaptations have been made to the bathroom to promote independence and dignity. Technology enabled care is in place to manage risk. |
| Manage toilet need | The toilet is accessible to the person. Adaptations have been made to promote independence and dignity. |
| Being appropriately clothed | The laundry facilities in the person’s home are working well, and the person can use them. |
| Be able to make use of their home safely | The person can safely access the areas of their home that they wish to. There are no environmental hazards, such as loose carpets. Adaptations or technology enabled care is in place to manage known risks. |
| Maintain a habitable home environment | The property is in good order and does not present additional challenges or barriers for the person in meeting this need, e.g. damp, mould or issues with utilities. |
| Develop/maintain family and personal relationships | The person’s home and the local neighbourhood are both safe for visitors. Where the accommodation is a care setting (e.g. extra care), the setting facilitates contact with family and friends. |
| Access/engage in work, training, education or volunteering | The person’s home is in a location that facilitates their timely and safe travel to/from work, training, education or volunteering settings. |
| Make use of community services | The person feels safe going into the local community and their home is close enough to the services they need. |
| Carry out caring responsibilities for a child | The property has enough bedrooms for the size of the family. There are no risks to the child posed from the environment. |
In the same way as safe and suitable housing can have a positive impact, unsafe or unsuitable housing can have the opposite effect.
The following table provides some examples of how unsafe and unsuitable housing could negatively impact the different areas of need under the Care Act 2014:
| Area of need | Example |
| Manage and maintain nutrition | The kitchen environment is such that the person is at risk when they prepare food. For example, worktops are too high meaning visibility is poor when making a hot drink or draining a saucepan. |
| Maintain personal hygiene | The property only has a bath, which the person finds difficult to use and they are at risk of falling. There are no grab rails, and the room is too small to adapt into a wet room. |
| Manage toilet need | The toilet is not accessible to the person, and they must use a commode. This has to be emptied by a neighbour which the person finds undignified. |
| Being appropriately clothed | The communal washing machine is often broken, and the person is unable to access the local launderette independently. |
| Be able to make use of their home safely | The person’s mobility difficulties mean that they are no longer able to use the stairs safely. Their bedroom and bathroom are upstairs - they are currently sleeping on the sofa and washing in the kitchen sink. |
| Maintain a habitable home environment | The person tries to keep their home clean, but there is evidence of rat infestation in the kitchen and damp in the bedrooms. |
| Develop/maintain family and personal relationships | The person lives in a block of flats and struggles to use the stairs safely. This means the person no longer goes out to visit family and friends. |
| Access/engage in work, training, education or volunteering | The person has housing that is not near the person’s services. The roads to get to where they need to go are dangerous and difficult to navigate. |
| Make use of community services | The person is unable to protect themselves from harm and would be at risk going into the community. They report that they often experience threats and anti-social behaviour. |
| Carry out caring responsibilities for a child | The person should be looking after their children every weekend, but they are currently homeless and sofa surfing, meaning they are unable to fulfil these responsibilities. |
2. Conversations about Housing
The safety and suitability of a person’s current housing should always be considered as part of the assessment or review conversation.
If housing is identified as having (or at risk of having) a negative impact on either individual wellbeing or a care and support need, it should be discussed.
Some things to consider:
- Is the person as independent as they can be in their home?
- Can care and support needs be met safely in the home environment?
- Is there an impact on dignity?
- Are housing issues causing anxiety or distress?
- Are there overcrowding issues?
- Does anyone else living in the home pose a risk to the person?
- Is the person isolated from their community or support networks?
- Does housing affect the person’s work/training/education or volunteering activities?
- Is there a risk to health (e.g., unable to access the kitchen to prepare food, mould, risk of falls)?
- Is there an issue with anti-social behaviour?
- Is there any evidence or concern about safeguarding issues, such as cuckooing or self neglect?
As part of the conversation, ways to address any housing-related issues should be explored. As for all conversations with a person, a strengths based approach should be used.
Depending on the circumstances, the following are some possible actions:
- Support the person to access suitable housing (e.g. applying to the Housing Options Service);
- Liaising with the Local Housing Authority to address/resolve the issue (e.g., anti-social behaviour or damp in a council property);
- An Occupational Therapy referral or joint work with an Occupational Therapist (OT) (if you are not an OT);
- Arranging advocacy support to help the person liaise with a private landlord;
- Making a technology enabled care referral;
- Signposting e.g. to Citizens Advice for housing or financial advice;
- Notifying commissioning (if concerns relate to accommodation provided by a service provider);
- Raising a safeguarding concern;
- Notifying the police of a crime.
Note: If the person is homeless or is at risk of homelessness, please also see Section 6, Homelessness.
Resolving housing related issues will often require effective joint work with housing colleagues, or the involvement of multiple agencies.
For guidance about effective joint working, see: Joint Work.
It is important that people know their housing rights and how to exercise them.
People can be signposted to relevant local services, including the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB).
Information is also available online:
3. Applications to the Housing Options Service
The local Housing Options Service is responsible for supporting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to find suitable accommodation.
For further information about homelessness, see Section 6, Homelessness.
Upon receiving an application, the Local Housing Authority must decide whether the person is eligible for housing assistance and, if so, whether they have a priority need (see below). These decisions must all be made in line with relevant legislation and guidance.
Long term accommodation options may be of council stock, housing association tenancy or private sector tenancy. Depending on the circumstances and local arrangements, temporary provision in hotels or other facilities may also be offered.
Applications to the Housing Options Service should normally be made by the person in need of housing, or by an authorised representative (someone acting with the person’s consent or a Deputy/Attorney).
Priority need: The priority need consideration applies when a person is already homeless or could become homeless in the next 2 months. Certain people always have a priority need. This includes people who are pregnant or have children, care leavers aged 18-20 (who were in care when aged 16 or 17) and those who are homeless because of domestic abuse. Other determinations of priority need must be based on vulnerability (whether the person would be at much greater risk of harm than most if they become homeless).
Anyone with an automatic or assessed priority need who is already homeless must be provided with emergency accommodation.
Where housing is part of the solution to meeting eligible needs for care and support, progress towards finding suitable housing should be monitored.
It is also appropriate to include the provision of such housing in the Care and Support Plan, even though the housing element itself is being provided under housing legislation.
4. Accommodation under the Care Act
4.1 Housing need only
Accommodation cannot be provided under the Care Act if the housing need is not directly related to a need for care and support. If this is the case, an application to the local Housing Options Service must be made.
See Section 3, Applications to the Housing Options Service.
4.2 Related needs
People eligible for housing assistance from the Local Housing Authority
In cases where housing and care and support are related, accommodation may not be arranged under the Care Act when the person is eligible for housing assistance from the Local Housing Authority under housing legislation. If this is the case, an application to the local Housing Options Service must be made.
See Section 3, Applications to the Housing Options Service.
Note: If the person’s housing arrangements do not allow for the care and support need to be provided (either effectively or at all), seek advice from your line manager to see if there is an option to arrange temporary accommodation under the Care Act 2014. An example could be where a person is not engaging with the Housing Options Service but is homeless and sleeping on the streets with an eligible need for personal care that cannot be provided safely and with dignity. This also includes urgent care and support services that have been put in place pending the completion of an assessment of need.
To ensure that decisions are made in line with the latest case law, it is advisable to always seek legal advice before deciding not to provide housing under the Care Act for a person with a care and support need.
Specialist accommodation
If specialist accommodation forms part of the care and support service being commissioned to meet the person’s needs, this can be arranged under the Care Act. For example, care home provision, extra-care, supported living and shared lives. This includes urgent accommodation pending the completion of an assessment of need.
People with NRPF
If a person with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) has a complex need that requires specialist accommodation, this can be arranged under the Care Act in the normal way.
If they do not have a complex need that requires specialist accommodation, temporary accommodation support can be arranged under the Care Act if they are homeless or at risk of homelessness. This is because, unlike the general population, they are not eligible for housing assistance from the Local Housing Authority under housing legislation.
For further information, see: No Recourse to Public Funds.
People receiving Section 117 aftercare
If specialist accommodation forms part of the service being commissioned to meet the person’s Section 117 aftercare needs, this can be arranged under the Mental Health Act 1983. For example, care home provision, extra-care, supported living and shared lives.
When the person is no longer eligible for Section 117 aftercare, any requirement for specialist accommodation to meet ongoing care and support needs can be arranged under the Care Act. However, where no need for specialist accommodation is required, the Local Housing Authority would become responsible.
5. Tenancy Agreements and Mental Capacity
Tenancy agreements are legally binding contracts between a landlord and a tenant.
It is the responsibility of the landlord to be assured that any tenant signing a tenancy agreement has the mental capacity to enter into that contract.
If the tenant lacks the mental capacity to sign the agreement, it can only be signed on their behalf by someone with the relevant legal authority to do so (a Deputy or Attorney whose powers extend to signing a tenancy agreement).
If there is nobody with the relevant legal authority to sign the agreement on the tenant’s behalf, an application must be made to the Court of Protection. This application would normally be made by the individual seeking authority to sign the tenancy agreement. Where no such individual exists, the Local Authority can make the application and seek authority to sign the tenancy agreement.
For further guidance about assessing mental capacity and Court of Protection applications, see: The Mental Capacity Act 2005 Resource and Practice Toolkit.
6. Homelessness
A person is homeless if they do not have housing that they have a legal right to occupy, which is accessible and physically available to them (and their household) and which it would be reasonable for them to continue to live in.
'Homeless' is a term that includes all the following:
- Sleeping rough;
- Single homeless (individuals living in shelters, hostels and temporary accommodation);
- Statutorily homeless households (households seeking help due to being currently or imminently without accommodation); and
- Hidden homeless (individuals and households whose situation is not visible or known).
It also includes those living in insecure or inadequate housing.
All local housing and social services authorities must have regard to the code of guidance when exercising their functions relating to a person who is homeless or at risk of homelessness.
See: Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities (GOV.UK).
People become homeless for many reasons.
Examples include:
- Social causes, such as a lack of affordable housing, poverty and unemployment;
- Life events, such as divorce and death;
- Complex physical or mental health needs, including addiction and trauma;
- Lack of supportive and healthy relationships;
- To escape abusive situations, including domestic abuse and modern slavery.
Any support to help the person find housing should also take into account the circumstances that led to their homelessness. Failing to address this may lead to unsuccessful housing and repeated homelessness.
6.1 Duty to refer
Under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, with the consent of any person who is "homeless" or "threatened with homelessness", a referral must be made to the Housing Options Service. This is known as the ‘duty to refer’.
If the person lacks the mental capacity to consent, a referral can be made in their best interests or with the consent of someone legally authorised to provide it on their behalf (a Deputy or Attorney).
For further guidance about when and how to make a referral, see: A guide to the duty to refer (GOV.UK).
For information about the role of the Housing Options Service following a referral, see Section 3, Applications to the Housing Options Service.
Sometimes, it may be more appropriate to make a referral to another Local Authority area. If this is the case, see: Local Government Association procedures for referrals to another local authority.
6.2 Safeguarding homeless adults
Adults who are homeless may be at increased risk of abuse or neglect. For example, their lack of stable accommodation can leave them vulnerable to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, and their possessions vulnerable to theft.
The following are resources that can support effective safeguarding practice with homeless adults. Please note, this is not an all inclusive list of the resources that are available:
Adult safeguarding and homelessness: a briefing on positive practice (LGA and ADASS).
Adult safeguarding and homelessness: Experience-informed practice (LGA and ADASS).
Embedding a radical safeguarding approach in adult social care (Research in Practice).
Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities – Chapter 21: Domestic Abuse (GOV.UK).
NICE recommends that where a social worker is embedded in the local homelessness team, consideration should be given to appointing them to lead on safeguarding enquiries relating to people experiencing homelessness.
See NICE: Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness.
For further guidance and information, including links to the multi-agency safeguarding adult procedures, see: Safeguarding Adults.
6.3 Homelessness guidance and resources
All local housing and social services authorities must have regard to the government code of guidance when exercising their functions relating to a person who is homeless or at risk of homelessness. The code of guidance includes the requirements in relation to those in specific circumstances such as care leavers, former members of the armed forces, victims of violence and domestic abuse, and people with an offending history.
See: Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities (GOV.UK).
The following are other sources of guidance that can support effective practice with people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, including those in specific circumstances. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list of the resources that are available:
NICE: Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness
Discharging people (from hospital) at risk of homelessness (GOV.UK)
Shelter Legal – England and Wales
Homeless Link (database of homelessness services in England)
For safeguarding resources, see Section 6.2, Safeguarding homeless adults.
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