The Housing Options Service provides information, assistance and advice to help you to resolve your housing situation by keeping you in your home or by helping you to find alternative accommodation. Our emphasis is on the early intervention and prevention of homelessness.  The earlier you make contact with us, the sooner we can start to help you resolve your housing difficulties. If you, or someone you know is threatened with homelessness, please get in contact.  The earlier we know about your situation, the easier it will be to assist you.

You don't have to be rough sleeping to be considered homelessness.  There are a wide range of situations which could mean you are considered homeless or threatened with homelessness.  These include:

• You at risk of losing your home – this could be through the form of a notice from your landlord if you are renting or living in your landlords home
• You are staying with friends or 'sofa surfing' and they have asked you to leave
• You're at risk of violence or abuse where you are living. This can be from a partner, ex-partner, family member, or somebody else. Domestic abuse is not limited to physical violence or confined to instances within the home. Domestic abuse is any incident or a pattern of incidents of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (which includes physical, psychological, sexual, financial or emotional abuse).
• You are street homeless or rough sleeping
• You can't afford to stay where you are
• You've been locked out of your properly or you have been illegally evicted
• Your accommodation is in a very poor condition
• Your relationship has broken down with your partner or close family and you cannot continue to live there
• You have nowhere to put your houseboat or caravan

There are many ways in which we can support you, including referrals to agencies to support you, assistance with sorting finances, advice on tenancy matters, negotiation and advocacy.

The government has launched the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), which offers government-funded legal advice and representation (legal aid) to individuals facing possession proceedings which could result in the loss of their homes.

Individuals who receive a written notice for possession (e.g. an email from a landlord or a letter from a creditor) will be eligible to receive free legal assistance.

The HLPAS will be delivered by housing law experts and provided in two stages. The first stage will involve the provision of legal advice on housing, welfare benefits and debt issues to individuals facing home possession proceedings, with the aim of resolving problems early and avoiding court proceedings where possible. The second stage will provide in-court legal representation during possession hearings for those individuals whose cases cannot be solved out of court.

Individuals can find their nearest Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service provider by typing in their postcode and ticking the box ‘Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service’ on GOV.​UK.

To ensure people facing the loss of their home are aware of the support they are entitled to, councils are encouraged to share this information and the website with stakeholders and on their guidance pages.  For further information or if you have any questions, please contact:

Guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/legal-aid-for-possession-proceedings

You can contact us during office hours 9.00am to 5.00pm in the following ways:

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness or concerned about your current housing situation and would like to discuss your situation with a member of the housing options team, please contact one of our duty line to discuss your situation.

You can also meet face to face with a Housing Options Officer at our drop in Triage Service based in the Customer Service Centre at the City Offices, Colebrook Street, Winchester, SO23 9LJ . An officer will be on duty Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm (please note duty will start at 1pm on Wednesdays and finish at 4.30pm on a Friday).

Contact: 

• Email: homelessness@winchester.gov.uk
• Telephone: Duty Line 01962 848 163
• Telephone: Customer Service Centre 01962 840 222

If you have an emergency out of hours please contact 01962 865 407

 

The Homelessness Reduction Act came into force on 3rd April 2018.  This has changed the way in which council's deal with homeless households following the introduction of a number of new duties which mean council's have to:

• provide advice to all households and carry out work which aims to prevent homelessness and enables people can be supported to remain in their current home;
• offer everyone who is homeless or at risk of homelessness access to meaningful help, irrespective of their priority need status, as long as they are eligible for assistance; and,
• carry out prevention and relief work for anyone threatened with homelessness within 56 days - even if you are not threatened within 56 days, we urge you to contact us at the earliest opportunity.

Following a full housing assessment, you will also be provided with a Personalised Housing Plan detailing the steps he council and you will need to take to prevent your homelessness.

The Government have produced a number of factsheets to explain the new legislation, which can be found here:

GOV.UK - Homelessness Reduction Act Factsheets

 

 

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, one of your options may be to rent a home privately. Following a full housing assessment, your housing options officer can advise and support you.  We may be able to assist with the loan of a deposit and rent in advance to secure accommodation.

The Goverment have produced guidance to help you to understand your rights and responsibilities, what to look out for before rnting, living in a rented home, what happens at the end of a tenancy and what to do if things go wrong.  The guidance can be found

here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/821379/6.5707_MHCLG_How_to_Rent_v4.pdf

IF YOU ARE IN IMMEDIATE DANGER, PLEASE CALL 999.

If you are a victim of domestic abuse, living within an abusive relationship, wishing to leave or find out what your options are, or if you have previously been a victim of domestic abuse and are looking at appropriate alternative housing options, we can provide advice and support.

How we can support

We can support you with options to flee your home, consider a long-term plan or help you remain safe in your own home.

We can also advise you on housing options if you have previously experienced domestic abuse.

If there is an emergency, you can visit the Customer Service Centre at the City Offices, Colebrook Street, Winchester, SO23 9LJ from Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm.

If you're a Winchester City Council tenant, you can also talk to your housing officer about additional support and protective factors to allow you to remain in your home. 

As a council, we can support you with options to flee your home if you are living in an abusive relationship and wish to leave. 

You can contact our housing options team by emailing homelessness@winchester.gov.uk or by calling 01962 848163 between 9am and 5pm on weekdays. 

If you or someone you know needs homelessness support outside of office hours, call 01962 865407.

More domestic abuse advice

There's lots more information about domestic abuse on our Domestic Abuse webpage, including:

• Info on what is considered domestic abuse
• Links to support for people in different domestic abuse situations
• Links to support for different groups
• Info on how to access support in different languages or formats 

Support from the Freedom Programme and Trinity Winchester

Our partners at Trinity Winchester can also provide support to individuals experiencing domestic abuse. The Trinity Women's Service is a woman-only service who are experiencing vulnerability. Through the service, women can access the nationally accredited and recognised Freedom programme, which aims to help women make sense of their experiences with domestic abuse through one-to-one counselling and support groups, as well as women-only learning classes to support women to gain skills and re-enter the workplace all within a calm and safe setting. 

If you would like to find out more information or refer somebody to them, you can call them on 01962 842827 or email women@trinitywinchester.org.uk.

Trinity's short video below features a testimony from a domestic abuse survivor who was able to get help through the charity's Women's Service.