Homelessness help from Dacorum Borough Council

If you are homeless tonight, or about to lose your home, contact Dacorum Borough Council straight away. It cannot turn you away without looking at your case. You do not have to wait until you are on the street. For anyone eligible, the council's duties begin once you are likely to become homeless within 56 days.^[32]

In office hours, phone, email or visit. Call 01442 228000 and ask for Homeless Prevention, or email homelessnessprevention@dacorum.gov.uk. You can also go to The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead.^[19] The council's switchboard is open from 8.45am to 5.15pm, Monday to Thursday, and from 8.45am to 4.45pm on Friday.^[19] In October 2026 the council said its online triage form was unavailable, and asked people to email a short description of their situation and a phone number instead.^[19]

Out of hours. If you become homeless outside office hours and have nowhere to stay, call the council's emergency homeless line on 0800 018 6050.^[19] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

Domestic abuse. If you are homeless or likely to become homeless because of domestic abuse, call 01442 228000 and ask for the Homelessness Prevention team.^[22] The council names the Hertfordshire Domestic Abuse Helpline on 08 088 088 088, open 9am to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 4pm at weekends.^[22] Outside office hours, if you have nowhere safe to stay, call the emergency homeless line on 0800 018 6050.^[19] If it is not safe to speak on a 999 call, the council says to press 55 when prompted.^[22]

Sleeping rough. If you are sleeping rough, contact the council or the local homeless charity DENS. If you are worried about someone else, the council asks you to tell it through StreetLink.^[24] When the temperature drops to freezing or below, its severe weather protocol makes extra bed spaces available to anyone sleeping on the street.^[24]

Free advice. The council names Shelter, Citizens Advice Dacorum and, for young people, Herts Young Homeless among the organisations that can help.^[26]

Dacorum'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 short:

• If you are eligible and likely to become homeless within 56 days, the council owes you the prevention duty. It must take reasonable steps to help you keep your home or find another.^[32]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[32]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[32]
• If you are eligible, in priority need and did not become homeless intentionally, 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 allows.^[32]

How the council says it helps. It describes an interview, an assessment and a decision, and says a homeless advice and prevention officer will work with you on a Personal Housing Plan.^[19] It says it can help you stay in your home or find somewhere else to live.^[26]

Who is eligible. Some people from abroad are not eligible for homelessness help; the general homelessness guide sets out who is.^[32]

Local connection. Dacorum's housing register usually asks for 10 years' residence in the borough at some point, or a family or work link, but that is a rule for council housing, not for homelessness help.^[19] Without a local connection, a homelessness case may be referred to a council where you have one. It is never referred where you would be at risk of domestic abuse, or where you have suffered other violence there and would probably face more.^[32]

If Dacorum 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.^[32]

Whatever is provided must be suitable for your whole household. For households with dependent children or a pregnant member, bed and breakfast can be used only when nothing else is available. Even then, it can be used for no more than 6 weeks in total.^[32]

What the council provides. The council's temporary accommodation policy lists shared hostels, self-contained homes, private rented homes and its own hostel, The Elms.^[29] It says it uses bed and breakfast rarely, sometimes outside the borough, and tries to place you as close as possible.^[29] A welfare officer should contact you soon after you move in.^[29]

Pets. The council says you need its permission to keep a pet in temporary accommodation.^[29]

Offers. The policy says you will get one offer of accommodation, alongside the letter telling you which homelessness duty the council owes you.^[29] Get advice before you refuse anything. The council says a temporary placement does not mean you will get a permanent council or housing association home.^[29]

If no duty is owed. The policy says that if your application is not accepted, you will be given 28 days to leave your temporary accommodation.^[29]

If you think accommodation offered under a duty is unsuitable, you can normally ask for a review. Emergency accommodation provided while the council investigates is challenged differently.^[32]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[32] That covers decisions on:

• your eligibility, or whether you count as homeless
• priority need, or a finding of intentional homelessness
• the council bringing a duty to an end
• whether accommodation offered to you is suitable.^[32]

You have 21 days from the date you are told the decision, unless the council agrees in writing to give you longer. If the review goes against you, or you do not hear back in time, you can appeal. The appeal goes to the county court on a point of law under section 204, again within 21 days.^[32]

Asking Dacorum for a review. The council says the easiest way is to email its Housing Review team at reviews@dacorum.gov.uk, within 21 days of getting the decision. You can also write or phone.^[30] A senior officer who was not involved in the original decision carries out the review, and the council says you will normally get a decision within 56 days.^[30] You can ask it to provide temporary accommodation while the review goes on.^[30]

Homelessness cases fall within civil legal aid. If you qualify, a legal aid solicitor can advise on and run a review or appeal at no cost. Check through the government's Find a Legal Aid Adviser tool.^[47] The council says Citizens Advice Dacorum or a solicitor can ask for the review on your behalf.^[30]

A complaint about how your case was handled, rather than what was decided, goes to the council first. After that, it can go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. That route cannot replace a section 202 review or a section 204 appeal, which have their own strict deadlines.^[44]