Location and suitability of accommodation for homeless applicants

Accommodation must be suitable for the homeless person and their family. This involves looking at where it is located.

As far as reasonably practicable a local authority must secure accommodation in its own area.[1] Where this is not possible it must try to place homeless people as close as possible to where they were previously living.[2]

A local authority must take into account the location of the accommodation offered when assessing suitability for a person, including:[3]

• the significance of any disruption to employment, caring responsibilities or education of the person and their household

• proximity and accessibility of medical facilities and other support which are currently being provided and are essential to well-being

• proximity and accessibility of local services, amenities and transport

• when the accommodation is located outside the authority's area, the distance from the 'placing' authority

Shortage of accommodation

Local authorities can take account of the resources available in their area, but the general shortage of accommodation is not sufficient reason for failing to comply with the duty to secure suitable accommodation for the homeless person and their household. An authority must consider the circumstances of the person and the availability of accommodation close to where their household would like to live before securing accommodation out of area.

An authority must show that it has followed its internal policies.[4] A general policy of placing homeless applicants out of borough because of a shortage of accommodation within the borough is not lawful.

Out-of-area offers

A person who is offered accommodation outside the district can seek a review of the decision on grounds of suitability. The review officer must take into account the availability of suitable accommodation within or closer to its area, as the facts stand at the date of the review decision.[5]

Local authorities should record how they reached a decision to place a person out of their area and should give the person a reasonable amount of time to consider the offer.[6]

A local authority is not required as standard to:[7]

• make bespoke arrangements with housing associations for any available social housing properties in the area

• provide a record of all internet searches and inquiries it conducted to find accommodation in a particular area

The Local Government Association has developed guidance setting out best practice and procedure on out-of-area placements in England. This applies to accommodation used to meet homelessness duties, and when a local authority is supporting a child under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, where the support includes provision of accommodation.

When assessing the suitability of accommodation, the review officer must reconsider the decision in light of all relevant circumstances at the date of the review. The reviewer is not limited to a reconsideration of the facts as they stood at the date of the original decision. They must take into account the availability, as at the date of review, of any suitable accommodation either within or closer to that district. [8]

There may be circumstances where an out-of-area placement originally identified as suitable becomes unsuitable because new housing stock becomes available in the authority's area.[9]

Local authorities must have a policy for:

• procuring sufficient units of temporary accommodation to meet the anticipated demand for the year ahead

• allocating those units to individual homeless households.

Where there was an anticipated shortfall of units in its own area, that policy would explain the factors which would be taken into account in offering households those units, the factors which would be taken into account in offering units close to home, and if there was a shortage of such units, the factors which would make it suitable to accommodate a household further away.

Both policies should be kept up-to-date and be publicly available.[10]

If a local authority has adopted and implemented lawful procurement and allocation policies, then its decisions to offer out-of-area accommodation under the terms of such policies would generally be lawful and capable of discharging its duties.[11]

It is not unlawful for a local authority to adopt a policy recognising that local accommodation may be unaffordable and therefore not suitable to discharge homelessness duties to applicants who are subject to restrictions on how much benefits they receive (the 'benefits cap'), provided that the impact of an out-of-area placement on the applicant and their household is correctly assessed in each case.[12]

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 requires that local authorities have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when making decisions about suitability of accommodation for a person and their household.

Disruption to education and other support networks may be detrimental to a child's development. It is not enough for a local authority to only consider whether a child is approaching a significant exam when deciding whether accommodation is suitable in terms of its location. A local authority must make further enquiries and ensure that the child's right to education under article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and section 11 of the Children Act 2004 are not violated. The local authority must record its decisions and reasons in a way that clearly demonstrates how it evaluated the likely impact of the location of the accommodation on the educational welfare of the child.[13]

A local authority's decision that interim accommodation outside its borough was suitable was irrational as the authority based its decision on an unlawful housing needs assessment. The homeless household had six school aged children. The local authority had not considered the disruption of the move to the children's education, had not kept the suitability of the accommodation under review, and had not applied its policy.[14]

The local authority where a child is placed becomes responsible for ensuring that Children Act 1989 duties to assess their needs are carried out. 

An out-of-area placement may be beneficial in certain circumstances, where for example the homeless person:[15]

• faces domestic violence in the authority's area

• is at risk of violence in the area

• is an ex-offender or drug/alcohol user who would benefit from breaking links with negative influences

• has been subject to trafficking or modern slavery and is risk of further exploitation

• may be able to access employment opportunities

• does not mind where s/he lives.

It is not reasonable for a person to continue to occupy accommodation if it is probable that this will lead to domestic abuse or other violence directed against them.

A local authority must take into account any risks of violence or racial harassment that may affect the household.[16] For example, an offer of accommodation to a Bangladeshi family in an area of active racial harassment was quashed because the authority had not had regard to the effect of under-reporting of racist attacks.[17]

The accommodation offered must not place the person or any member of the household at risk of further violence. The person's fear of further violence is also a consideration; not just the actual risk.[18] However 'a belief may be genuinely held without being a reasonable belief' and in some circumstances the accommodation offered might be suitable regardless of a person's subjective fear.[19]

Domestic abuse and modern slavery

If a homeless applicant is at risk of domestic abuse or of modern slavery, the local authority may need to offer accommodation at a location that can be kept secret and has appropriate security and trained staff. Emergency accommodation may need to be gender-specific as well as secure.[20]

Find out more about housing options for people experiencing domestic abuse who need to leave their home.

If accommodation is provided in another authority's area, the local authority in that area must be informed within 14 days. The written notice sent to the other authority must state:[21]

• the name of the homeless person

• how many people can be expected to live in the household, and explain who they are

• the address of the accommodation and the date it was made available to the person

• which duty was being discharged when the accommodation was secured

Find out more about co-operation with other agencies and how two authorities should cooperate when there is a child under 18 in the homeless household, and when a person can be found not eligible or intentionally homeless.

A local authority must consider different rules for the suitability of accommodation offered to homeless households when the applicant has made a homelessness application within two years of their arrival to the UK.[22] This change applies to homeless applications made on or after 1 June 2022.

A local authority does not need to consider most of the factors to assess suitability which apply to other applicants, including the distance from their area, disruption to employment and education, or the proximity of medical facilities, support or local services.

A local authority must still consider the impact of any disruption caused to the caring responsibilities of the applicant or their household.

This change is likely to affect people who have been resettled in the UK in the last two years. For example, people who have fled war in Ukraine and Afghanistan and have been granted leave through a resettlement scheme.

People returning to the UK

There is an exception for a person who had a right to occupy accommodation in the UK for an uninterrupted period of six months or more in the three years before they most recently arrived in the UK.[23] For them a local authority must still consider the significance of any disruption caused by the location of the accommodation.

This is likely to benefit British citizens and others returning to the UK after a period of previous residence.

It is usually in the person’s best interests to accept the offer and request a suitability review.

A person can request an internal review of an authority's offer of temporary or permanent accommodation.

A person does not have a statutory right to an internal review of the suitability of interim accommodation offered by a local authority while carrying out homelessness inquiries. The suitability of interim accommodation can only be challenged by way of judicial review.

Find out more about challenges to accommodation suitability.