Homelessness law for third sector workers

Third sector staff who work with homeless people need a practical understanding of what help councils must provide when someone is homeless or at risk of homelessness.

This course, specifically designed for third sector staff, explains when councils must provide temporary accommodation or other forms of help to homeless persons.

Attendees gain a thorough understanding of when councils should take action so they can effectively advocate for service users and know when to challenge homelessness assessment teams and when to refer clients for specialist legal advice.

Who should attend

This course is suitable for staff who work with homeless persons in the third sector and need a practical understanding of councils' statutory homelessness services.

For example those who:

• provide support to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
• manage hostels or supported housing projects, and
• advocate on homeless persons' behalf.

What's covered

• The relationship between homelessness and allocation of social housing
• How homelessness is legally defined
• What is a homelessness application?
• How to challenge unlawful 'gatekeeping'
• The importance of establishing an occupier's legal status
• The interim accommodation duty
• Priority need and why it's important
• Intentional homelessness - what is it and when is it relevant?
• The duty to protect personal belongings
• Local connection referrals
• The ending of homelessness duties
• Suitability of accommodation
• Appeals & complaints
• Common scenarios, including the termination of tenancies and licences
• Referring to specialist housing advisors.

Tailoring training according to your teams' particular needs

Note that the content of this training can be tailored according to your particular needs. See the training page for more details.

Booking

Contact me if you're interested in booking this course.

Example of training materials*

*Some of these materials are only excerpts (i.e. not complete versions) for illustrative purposes only. My materials are regularly updated. As a result, these examples may now be out of date.