Homelessness help from City of London Corporation

If you are homeless today, or about to lose your home, contact the Corporation's Homelessness Team straight away — it cannot turn you away without looking at your case, and you do not need a professional referral. You do not have to be on the street first: for anyone eligible, its duties begin once you are likely to become homeless within 56 days.^[23]

The City of London Corporation's homelessness service covers the Square Mile only, not Greater London — anywhere else in London, apply to that borough's council instead.^[12]

How to apply. The route the Corporation publishes is an online self-referral for anyone facing housing difficulties or homelessness. If you cannot use the self-referral tool, email the Homelessness Team or phone 020 7332 1804 — the phone line's opening hours vary by day and are listed on the council's help page.^[12] The team triages your referral and contacts you to discuss your housing options, which may include a full housing assessment — by phone first, with video and face-to-face appointments available at the Guildhall.^[12]

Out of hours. For emergencies involving immediate health or care needs, the Corporation's published route is the City and Hackney Emergency Out of Hours Social Work Service, operated by the London Borough of Hackney, on 020 8356 2300.^[12]

Sleeping rough. Report your situation — or someone else's — through the StreetLink website; if someone sleeping rough appears to be suffering from exposure to cold or extreme heat, call 999.^[15] The Corporation also commissions outreach teams that are on the City's streets looking out for rough sleepers every day of the year.^[15]

Free housing advice from Shelter, and free help from Citizens Advice, are there whenever you want them.

The Square Mile has its own local housing authority — the Corporation — and it owes the same duties as every English housing authority under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, the law on helping people who are homeless or about to lose their home. The general homelessness guide explains each duty in depth; briefly:

• The prevention duty. If you are eligible and likely to become homeless within 56 days, the Corporation must take reasonable steps to help you keep your home or find another.^[23]
• The relief duty. If you are eligible and already homeless, it must take reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[23]
• An assessment and a plan. Either way, it must assess your case and record, in a personalised housing plan, the steps you and it will each take.^[23]
• The main housing duty. For eligible applicants in priority need who did not become homeless intentionally, this duty — securing accommodation until it ends on a legal ground — can follow when the relief duty ends.^[23]

Early help is on offer. If you are at risk of losing your home, the Corporation's preventing-homelessness guidance describes free advice and practical help:

• negotiating with family or friends who have asked you to leave
• help with income, spending and debt, including referral to the City Advice service
• advice on finding private rented or social housing.^[13]

The duty to refer. Some public bodies must refer you to a housing authority if they believe you will be homeless within 56 days. A referral does not replace an application — you still apply yourself if you want help.^[16]

If the Corporation has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible and in priority need, it must secure interim accommodation while it looks into your case.^[23] The duty arises before any decision on your application.^[23] The Corporation's guidance is direct on two points: the interim accommodation you are offered will not be in the City of London, and you may have to share facilities with others.^[14]

The law on location. The Corporation must secure accommodation in its own district so far as reasonably practicable.^[23] It must also weigh where a placement leaves your work, caring responsibilities, children's education, and the medical care you rely on.^[23] Whatever is provided must be suitable for your whole household.^[23] For households with dependent children or a pregnant member, bed and breakfast accommodation can be used only where nothing else is available — and then for no more than 6 weeks in total.^[23]

How the Corporation places people. Under its Temporary Accommodation Allocations Policy, all of the Corporation's temporary accommodation is spot purchased and nightly paid — arranged placement by placement.^[17] The policy also provides six self-contained studio flats in a single-sex building outside the City for vulnerable single women who are fleeing or have experienced domestic abuse.^[17] Its Use of Temporary Accommodation report records that in 2024/25 it placed 164 households across 158 properties.^[18] Most were single-person households, and every placement was within Greater London.^[18]

If a placement is unsuitable for your household, you can ask for a review — the next section explains how.^[23]

You can ask for a review of most homelessness decisions within 21 days of notification — keep the decision letter, because your deadlines run from the day you are notified.^[14][23]

The section 202 review. Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 covers decisions on:

• whether you are homeless or eligible
• whether you are in priority need, or became homeless intentionally
• the steps the Corporation is to take under your personalised housing plan
• a decision ending a duty
• whether accommodation offered to you is suitable.^[23]

The Corporation can allow a longer period for a review request in writing.^[23]

The section 204 appeal. If the review goes against you — or the outcome does not reach you within the prescribed time — you can appeal to the county court on a point of law, again within 21 days.^[23]

Free help. Homelessness cases are in scope for civil legal aid: advice from a legal aid solicitor on a review or appeal can be free if you pass the means and merits tests. Shelter, Citizens Advice and a local law centre can put you in touch with one.^[34]

Complaints about handling. For a referral that went unanswered, lost paperwork or weeks of silence, use the Corporation's complaints procedure first, then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Neither step replaces a section 202 review or a section 204 appeal, and neither pauses those deadlines.^[31]