Homelessness: do I have a local connection?

In deciding whether you have a local connection with the area, we will look at whether you (or anyone in your household):

Live in the area

  • The Council will usually consider that you have a local connection if you have lived in the area for a total of 6 months out of the last 12 months, or 3 years out of the last 5 years. There is however no set period and even if you have not lived in the area for those periods, the council may still consider you to have a local connection if you are clearly settled in the area.
  • You must have lived in the area by choice in order to have a local connection
  • You were posted in armed forces (external website) accommodation in the area
  • You are a care leaver (external website) and were placed in accommodation in the area. You should also have a local connection with the area that you originally lived in should you want to return there, regardless of how long you have been away
  • You are a former asylum seeker (external website) and were placed in accommodation in the area under asylum support (external website) provided by the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), (not accommodation centres)

Have family connections in the area

The Council will usually consider you to have a local connection with the area if you have close family who have lived in the area for at least five years. Close family includes parents, children, brothers or sisters. It may also include other family members if you have a very close relationship (for example if you were brought up by an aunt, uncle or grandparent).

Work in the area

If you work in the area you should be considered to have a local connection with the area. However, if your employment is of a casual nature, it may not be enough to establish a local connection. Employment doesn’t have to be full time and self-employed people can have a local connection if they mainly work in the local authority area.

Have a connection with the area because of special circumstances

You may be able to show you have a local connection because you have special circumstances. For instance, you may need to live in the area to receive specialist health care, or for religious reasons, or perhaps there are strong reasons why you need to return to the area where you were brought up.

You only need to fit into one category in order to have a local connection.

If we cannot establish that you have a local connection with this area, but we can make a connection with another local authority area then we will refer you to that local authority. You do not have to have a local connection for us to assist you in preventing your homelessness. If you are eligible, homeless and in priority need we will consider your local connection if all attempts to prevent and relieve homelessness have been exhausted or have failed.

How to get help

To get help and advice, and to talk through your options, you can:

Help yourself with our homeless prevention guide.

Out of hours

If you become homeless outside working hours, and you have nowhere safe to sleep you can call our out of hours service on 0300 123 30 68.