Introduction
This document sets out Braintree District Council’s policy for the placement of households in temporary and settled accommodation under a homelessness duty, both within and outside the district. Its primary use will be to guide placements in interim/temporary accommodation, but the same principles will apply for the use of Private Rented Sector offers.
It therefore covers:
- interim placements made under s188 Housing Act 1996 (as amended) while a relief duty is owed and homelessness enquires are undertaken,
- longer-term temporary accommodation placements for households accepted as being owed the main homelessness duty under s193 HA1996 (as amended) and
- offers of accommodation made to bring any homelessness duty to an end.
Although it is the Council’s aim to provide (or help to secure) accommodation within the district wherever possible, this isn’t always achievable. The Council has a finite number of properties available to it for use as temporary accommodation and this, together with factors including contract changes at Essex County Council and ongoing benefit reforms, means that for some households, accommodation in the district may be either unavailable and/or unaffordable. As a result, there may be an increasing need to use accommodation outside the district: the Council therefore needs to have a policy in place to ensure that those households who have the greatest need to be in, or close to, a particular location are given priority for any properties.
In all circumstances where a Council places a household out-of-area in discharge of any homelessness duty, the receiving local authority must be notified by way of a section 208 notification: this is built into BDC’s procedure. Should officers become aware that another Council has placed a household in the Braintree District and failed to send the requisite notification, appropriate steps will be taken to obtain the information and to seek assurances about timely receipt of any future notifications.
