Local Connection

In the last “Action” magazine, I mentioned that there are 5 basic conditions that must be met if a homeless person is to be offered council housing.   The person must actually be homeless, they must have the right to reside in the United Kingdom as a long term resident, they must have a local connection, they must have priority housing need - and they must not be intentionally homeless.   My last article explained what is meant by being “intentionally homeless”.    Let us now consider the term “local connection”.

If a homeless person does not have a local connection, they will normally be refused housing in the borough and advised by the local council to return to the borough where they would be regarded as having a local connection.

To have a “local connection” you must have lived in the borough for 6 out of the last 12 months or 3 out of the last 5 years.   You may also be considered as having a local connection to the area if you are employed in the borough or have a “close family connection” in the borough.   

“Close family connection” is difficult to define and prove – but it normally means parents, adult children, brothers or sisters living in the area, who have been resident for at least 5 years.    Even then, if the local connection is stronger in another place, the homeless person will be expected to go to that other place.   However, you would normally be housed if you want to live with someone with whom you would normally be expected to reside (e.g - a husband or wife).   This is providing they also have a local connection, are homeless and are considered as having priority housing need.

For those who are street homeless, “local connection” can be difficult to prove as they have no way of proving they have come from this area.    In fact, many street homeless people move about from borough to borough and this means that they rarely live in the same place for a minimum period of 6 months.

An exception to the local connection rule is where someone is fleeing domestic violence.   In such a situation, it is not reasonable to expect a victim to live in the same borough as the perpetrator of the violence and so the homeless person can apply to any borough for housing.   Of course, there has to be evidence of the domestic violence (e.g – a police report) and this is not always easy to establish.   On top of this, you must also be considered as having “priority” housing need and this is something which single homeless people do not normally have.   I will explain more about this next time !

Bob Bailey
Editor