Homelessness help from Barnet Council

If you have nowhere to stay tonight, or you are about to lose your home, ask for help straight away — the council cannot turn you away without looking at your case. You do not have to wait until you have nowhere left to go: for anyone eligible, the council's duties begin once you are likely to become homeless within 56 days.^[26]

How to apply. In Barnet, homelessness help comes through Barnet Homes, which runs the council's Housing Options service on the council's behalf — the legal duties remain the council's.^[16]

• Phone: 020 8610 3539, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.^[16]
• Email: housingadvice@barnethomes.org.
• In person: by appointment only, at the Barnet Homes office, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW — phone or email first.^[16]

There is no application form to fill in: the team asks some questions to understand your housing need and books your first appointment.^[16] Get in touch as soon as you can — Barnet asks you to contact it immediately if you are at risk of losing your home.^[16]

Out of hours. At any other time, if it is an emergency, call the council's out-of-hours number, 020 8359 2000.^[16]

Sleeping rough. If you are sleeping rough, or worried about someone who is, a StreetLink referral — at thestreetlink.org.uk, or by phone on 0300 500 0914 if you cannot get online — alerts Barnet's rough sleeper team and outreach services. In severe weather the borough provides emergency accommodation for rough sleepers, and the local day centre Homeless Action in Barnet offers hot meals, showers and housing advice.^[21]

Under 18. Young people aged 16 or 17 can call Barnet Homes' Housing Options service on 020 8610 3539, or Barnet MASH — the council's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub — on 020 8359 4066, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.^[22] Out of hours — after 5pm, at weekends and on bank holidays — call the council's Family Services Emergency Duty Team on 020 8359 2000.^[22]

Free housing advice from Shelter and free help from Citizens Advice are available at any point — and you can approach the council yourself directly.

Barnet's duties come from Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and are the same across England — the general homelessness guide explains each one in depth. In summary: if you are eligible and likely to become homeless within 56 days, the council owes you the prevention duty — reasonable steps to help you keep your home or secure another before you lose it.^[26] If you are eligible and already homeless, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure somewhere suitable to live.^[26] It must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and it will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[26]

For applicants who are eligible, in priority need and not intentionally homeless, the main housing duty can follow once the relief duty ends: the council must then secure accommodation for your household until the duty ends in one of the ways the law sets out.^[26]

Who does the work. In Barnet this work is carried out by Barnet Homes, part of The Barnet Group, a company wholly owned by the council — the duties themselves remain Barnet Council's whoever answers the phone.^[16]

What happens first. A Housing Options Officer carries out a triage assessment to work out whether the council can help. It asks about:

• your household, including everyone's immigration status
• any serious medical conditions you believe your current home affects or makes worse
• your income and outgoings
• the housing problem itself.^[18]

The council says its first priority will be to help you stay in your current home. For most people, it says, a solution is most likely to be with a private landlord — very few people are offered a council or housing association home.^[18]

If Barnet has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible and in priority need, it must secure interim accommodation while it looks into your case — the duty arises before any decision on your application.^[26]

One offer only. Barnet Homes calls this emergency temporary accommodation: you get one suitable offer, based on your housing needs assessment, meeting your minimum needs rather than what you want — it may have fewer bedrooms than you need. If you do not accept it, Barnet Homes will not find you other emergency accommodation, and you must make your own arrangements until a long-term offer is made.^[19]

Where you'll be placed. Emergency accommodation is likely to be outside Barnet and may be outside London.^[24] The council's Temporary Accommodation Placements Policy, dated 28 July 2025, sets out how locations are decided:

• a location priority is not an assurance that a home in that area will be available
• "close to borough" can include places outside London
• households facing affordability barriers, including benefit constraints, do not get priority for in-borough or close-to-borough placements
• the council notifies the host borough of a placement outside Barnet, under section 208 of the Housing Act 1996.^[24]

Some households can get in-borough priority — for example children on a Child Protection Plan or with an Education, Health and Care plan in Barnet that could not be moved without serious harm to the child's welfare — though even this is no promise of a placement in Barnet.^[24]

The law on every placement. Whatever the placement:

• accommodation must suit your whole household
• bed and breakfast for households with dependent children or a pregnant member can be used only where nothing else is available, for no more than 6 weeks
• the council must place you in its own district so far as reasonably practicable, weighing the effect on work, caring, education and support.^[26]

The local picture. The council's Temporary Accommodation Reduction Plan, considered by its Cabinet in November 2025, reports 2,945 households in temporary accommodation in June 2025 — up about a third from 2,202 in June 2023 — and forecasts around 4,000 by 2030 without further action.^[25]

If a placement seems unsuitable, get advice quickly: emergency accommodation has no statutory right of review, only judicial review, but an offer made later under the council's main duties can be reviewed (see "If you disagree with a decision").^[26]

Ask for a review within 21 days. You must ask for a review within 21 days of being told the decision, though the council can allow longer in writing.^[26] Most significant homelessness decisions carry a right of review under section 202 of the Housing Act 1996, including:

• whether you are eligible
• what duty you are owed
• the steps in your personalised housing plan
• a referral of your case to another council
• the suitability of accommodation offered to you.^[26]

If the review goes against you, or you are not told the outcome in time, you can appeal to the county court on a point of law under section 204. The deadline is again 21 days from the review decision.^[26]

Asking for a review in Barnet. Send your request in writing to the address on your decision letter. If you are unsure where to send it, ask Barnet Homes' Housing Options service, which handles applications for the council, using the phone number or email you used to apply.^[16] Keep a copy of everything, including the date you sent it.

Free legal help. You do not have to handle a review alone. Homelessness is within the scope of civil legal aid, so advice and representation from a legal aid solicitor can be free if you qualify. Shelter, Citizens Advice and local law centres can help you find one.^[35]

Complaints are separate. If your complaint is about how your case was handled — delays, lost documents, no response — use the council's complaints procedure, then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. That route is not a substitute for a section 202 review or a section 204 appeal, so never let the review deadline pass while a complaint is looked at.^[32]