Homelessness advice and housing options

Early intervention is the key to successfully prevent homelessness.

If you are threatened with homelessness and have children or vulnerable members in your household, seek specialist advice and assistance from the homelessness advice service.

If you want to know how The Homelessness Reduction Act may impact you please see: The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

If you are a professional, you can advise us of your Duty to Refer a homeless household under the Homelessness Reduction Act.

How to ask for advice

If you are homeless or currently threatened with homelessness, you can ask for advice in several ways. Filling out our form is a quick and easy way to get in touch with us:

Are you at risk of homelessness?

If you're homeless or at risk of homelessness, we can 

• Offer advice 
• Try to prevent, delay or relieve your homelessness by working with you to develop a plan to help you

We may have a legal duty to offer accommodation if your homelessness cannot be prevented or relieved and you are

• A care leaver 
• Pregnant
• A parent of dependent children
• Vulnerable through age or ill health
• Fleeing violence or abuse 
• In an emergency such as a fire or flood 

If you are in the above groups and at risk of homelessness within the next 56 days contact us on 023 8083 2327 or email Homelessness Advice.

If you're single and already sleeping rough or have nowhere to sleep tonight, call our Street Homeless Prevention Team on 023 8083 2343. 

Or email us at streethomeless@southampton.gov.uk

If you're single, but without vulnerabilities, and at risk of homelessness within the next 56 days you should in the first instance email us at streethomeless@southampton.gov.uk

We are unable to offer accommodation to everyone. The law only entitles some homeless people, (those who have a priority need) to an offer of accommodation as they are those who need it most. Offers of accommodation are normally temporary or privately rented tenancies, not permanent social homes. We prioritise single people, from Southampton who are known to be at danger of rough sleeping for help with supported hostel provision for the homeless. If you've no rights to public funds such as benefits, we may not be able to provide you with housing but we can still offer advice. 

For further advice and the information you will need to provide please see our Homelessness Reduction Act information.

Other ways of asking for advice

If you are unable to complete the online form, you can contact us by:

Email: homelessness.advice@southampton.gov.uk
Telephone: 023 8083 2327 (during office hours)

You can also book an appointment with the Homelessness Unit.

Homelessness Unit office hours

• Monday 8:30am to 4:30pm
• Tuesday 8:30am to 4:30pm
• Wednesdays 10am to 4:30pm
• Thursdays 8:30am to 4:30pm
• Fridays 8:30am to 4pm

For emergency cases, you can be directly referred by visiting us at Gateway.

If you are homeless because of an emergency outside of these hours, you can contact the council’s out of hours service on 023 8023 3344.

---

What can happen next

In most cases, we can help to keep you in your existing home. If this is not possible, we will offer you decent affordable housing solutions with a minimum use of emergency accommodation where possible.

A housing advisor will guide you through all the options available to you so that you can make an informed choice like:

• Advice/assistance on reducing your rent arrears when that is the cause of your being threatened with homelessness
• Mediation and support to ensure a young person or young family can remain at home safely and responsibly
• Submission of an application for Social Housing
• Looking at alternative accommodation in a planned and productive way
• Referral to the Homeseeker Lettings Service who may be able to assist you with privately rented accommodation or help you access various deposit schemes

We can also:

• Help you access welfare rights and money advice
• Mediate with your landlord on your behalf in order to prevent or delay homelessness
• If your home is at risk of being repossessed by a mortgage company, we can refer you to a specialist money advice team and negotiate on your behalf with the company or the courts