What to do if you think that you are homeless or threatened with homelessness
If you are resident in the borough of Scarborough and think that you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, please approach us straight away. You may be threatened with homelessness if, for example, you have received notice from your landlord, if you are living with family and they want you to leave, if your home is at risk of repossession due to mortgage arrears or if your relationship has broken down (this is not an exhaustive list.)
Contact us
You can also visit our Customer First Centre in Scarborough, but this may involve a longer wait.
What will happen when you contact us
We may need to see any paperwork or documentation relating to your circumstances (for example if you have received notice from your landlord, a copy of the notice and your tenancy agreement and any associated paperwork). We will also need to see proof of your ID and your income. This information can be provided digitally, in order to ease the process for you.
Your household details will need to be taken, along with your five year address history (so it would be useful if you had noted this down first.) The reasons why you are facing homelessness will be discussed with you. Following these discussions, if there is reason to believe that you are threatened with homelessness within 56 days, then an appointment would be arranged for a Full Housing Assessment to be undertaken with you. This could be face to face or over the telephone, whichever works best for you.
During the Full Housing Assessment, a Personalised Housing Plan will be produced that will look at what can be done to remove the threat of homelessness to enable you to remain in your existing home. If you want to move to a new address, this could be done at a later date, but by putting measures in place to enable you to remain in your existing home, would mean that any future move could be done in a planned and managed way.
Should it not be possible for measures to be put in place to enable you to remain in your existing home, then we would look to work with you to secure alternative permanent accommodation. Due to the shortage of social housing within the borough, it is very likely that alternative accommodation would be with a reputable private landlord. In order to assist with this, we may be able to loan you funds to pay for a bond or rent up front in the first instance to secure the tenancy.
When you have been fully assessed, you will be allocated a Housing Options Officer. They will;
- Be your point of contact
- Help you to remain in your existing accommodation
- If you cannot remain long term where you are, help you to find new accommodation
- Tell you what support is available
- Give advice if you are having problems paying your rent or mortgage
- Visit you if you are in hospital and assess your Housing Options before you are discharged
- Help if your landlord tries to illegally evict you or is harassing you
- Put you in contact with the Young Person’s Housing Pathway if you are a young person who may have to leave the family home
Emergency Accommodation
We may be able to provide emergency accommodation if you are homeless. This is a limited service and is dependent on eligibility and personal circumstances. A Housing Options Officer would make this decision based on your situation.
If you experience a housing emergency outside of office hours, you will need to call the Out of Hours Emergency Number on 01723 351558.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Housing Options Leaflet | 135.27 KB |
| Mortgage Breathing Space Advice Booklet | 294.7 KB |
| Housing Options Team Service Standards | 248.82 KB |
| Useful Organisations | 504.8 KB |