Homelessness help from Dudley Council

If you are homeless tonight, or worried you are about to lose your home, contact the 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.^[35]

Phone the Homelessness Prevention and Response Team through Dudley Council Plus on 0300 555 2345.^[25] The council says an adviser will contact you within 3 working days, and that in an emergency your call goes to its duty team for help the same day.^[25] If you have nowhere to stay tonight, say so when you call.

Out of hours. Outside office hours, including weekends and bank holidays, call the same number, 0300 555 2345, for the council's emergency housing team.^[25] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

Don't give up your home first. The council asks people not to leave their accommodation before getting advice, unless they have to.^[25]

Domestic abuse. If you are in danger, call 999. Once you are safe, contact the homeless team on 0300 555 2345.^[25] Dudley's 24-hour domestic abuse line, its single point of contact for local services developed by Black Country Women's Aid and CHADD, is 01384 455411.^[25]

Sleeping rough. The council asks people to report someone sleeping rough through StreetLink or the Change into Action website, so they can be connected to local support.^[25]

Free advice is available at any point, including from Shelter and Citizens Advice. The council points people to Dudley's Street Support Network for help from local agencies.^[25]

Dudley'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 detail. In short:

• 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 find another before you lose it.^[35]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[35]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[35]
• 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.^[35]

What the council says it can do. Its help to keep you in your home can include negotiating with your landlord, mediation, help with Discretionary Housing Payments, arranging payment plans, and help defending a possession claim.^[29] Its rent deposit scheme gives a private landlord a written promise from the council in place of a cash deposit.^[29]

A homeless application is not a housing register application. You apply to join Dudley's housing register through the Dudley Homes (opens in new tab) website.^[31] The council told councillors in September 2026 that it had an active waiting list of 4,500 applicants, with around 100 homes let each month.^[31]

Without a local connection to Dudley, your case may be referred to a council where you have one — never to a district where you would run the risk of violence, including domestic abuse.^[35] Immigration and residence status can affect what help you are eligible for — the general homelessness guide sets out who is eligible.^[35]

If the council has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible and in priority need, it must secure interim accommodation for you while it looks into your case. The duty arises before any decision on your application.^[35]

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 where nothing else is available — and then for no more than 6 weeks in total.^[35]

What the council says it uses. The council's draft homelessness prevention strategy says it uses some of its own homes as temporary accommodation while it makes decisions, and has converted a former sheltered housing scheme into temporary homes for families, with support staff on site. It says hotel bed and breakfast is used only in an emergency, for short periods.^[29]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 32 households in temporary accommodation in Dudley on 31 March 2026, 26 of them with children.^[34] By type of accommodation, 26 of the 32 were in council or housing association homes and 1 was in bed and breakfast.^[34]

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.^[35]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[35] 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.^[35]

You have 21 days from the date you are told the decision, unless the council agrees in writing to give you longer. A review that goes against you — or one you do not hear back about in time — can then be taken to the county court on a point of law under section 204, again within 21 days.^[35]

Asking Dudley for a review. The council's guidance says you can ask by filling in its review form, writing, or phoning, and that a senior officer who was not involved in the original decision carries out the review.^[33] Its form goes to the Customer Feedback Team at Hou.CustomerFeedback@dudley.gov.uk.^[33] Ask in writing within the 21 days, even if you are still gathering your reasons, and keep a dated copy.^[35]

Homelessness cases fall within civil legal aid, so a legal aid solicitor can advise on and run a review or appeal at no cost if you qualify. Check through the government's Find a Legal Aid Adviser tool.^[50]

A complaint about how your case was handled, rather than what was decided, goes through the council's complaints process first, then 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.^[47]