Homelessness - duty to refer

Some public authorities have a duty to refer (DTR) people facing homelessness to us.

These include:

• prisons
• youth offender institutions
• secure training centres
• secure colleges
• youth offending teams
• probation services 
• JobCentre plus
• social service authorities
• emergency departments
• urgent treatment centres
• hospitals providing inpatient care
• the secretary of state for defence in relation to members of the regular forces

Before making a referral, a public authority must:

• have consent from the homelessness applicant
• allow the individual to choose public authority that they want the referral to
• have consent to share the individuals' contact details. This is so the housing services team can contact them

To make a referral you need to:

• have reason to believe someone is homeless or;
• they are becoming homeless within the next 56 days

If you make a referral we will:

• contact the individual
• arrange a housing options assessment
• look at what advice and help we can give them

To make a referral you must have a log in or register to ALERT portal.

Although anyone can apply to us as homeless, people should apply where they have a local connection. This means there is more housing options available to the person.

A local connection applies if a person has:

• lived in this area for 6 out of the last 12 months or 3 out of the last 5 years
• a job in the area (except casual work)
• close relatives which have lived in the area for at least 5 years

Living in a hospital or prison does not give a local connection.

Care leavers and local connection

A young person who left care will have a local connection if they are:

• under 21
• normally living in a different area to the local authority that owes them leaving care duties. This is for at least 2 years including some time before they turned 16.

We may refer the person to any area where there is a safe local connection if a person is:

• homeless
• not threatened with homelessness
• has no local connection

If the children services authority is a county council, not a local council, the young person will have a local connection. The connection will be with every housing services within the area of the children services authority.

For more information contact us using our customer services online form (opens new window) or email housingadvice@guildford.gov.uk