Homelessness help from Hackney Council

If you are homeless tonight, or worried you are about to lose your home, ask Hackney Council for help 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.^[21]

Homelessness applications are handled by the council's Benefits and Homeless Prevention Service: call 020 8356 2929, or go in person to the Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, London E8 1DY.^[14] The phone line is open weekday office hours — the council's website shows the current times. At all other times — including tonight — call the council's out-of-hours number, 020 8356 2300.^[15]

If you have children in your household or you are vulnerable, and you have nowhere to stay tonight, the council says it may be able to offer emergency housing. It cannot offer this to everyone, and any emergency housing is likely to be outside Hackney and possibly outside London.^[15]

If you are sleeping rough, or worried about someone who is, Hackney asks you to use StreetLink — it alerts the council so it can connect the person to local support. StreetLink is not an emergency service: call 999 if someone needs urgent medical help.^[17]

Free housing advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice is available at any point — and you can always approach the council yourself directly.

Hackney's duties come from Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and are the same in every London borough — the general homelessness guide explains each duty 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 secure another before you lose it.^[21]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[21]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[21]
• If you are eligible, in priority need and did not become homeless intentionally, the main housing duty can follow once the relief duty ends. Under it, the council must secure accommodation for your household until the duty ends in one of the ways the law allows.^[21]

Hackney describes how this works in practice. After you apply, you have an appointment with a homeless prevention officer, who asks about your household and your current and previous housing, and gives you a list of documents to bring. If the council owes you a prevention or relief duty, it says it will create a personal housing plan with you — with steps you take yourself, such as looking for privately rented housing. Under the relief duty it works with you for up to 56 days or until you secure accommodation.^[14]

If Hackney 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.^[21]

Whatever is provided must be suitable for your whole household. 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.^[21]

On the local picture: according to the council's own published figures, over 3,400 homeless households are living in temporary accommodation in Hackney, as reported in its 2024-25 Housing Strategy Position Statement.^[18] Hackney's guidance says emergency housing is likely to be outside the borough, and that any accommodation offered while it looks into your case is likely to be outside Hackney and might be outside London.^[14]

The law still applies to every placement: the council must secure accommodation in its own district so far as reasonably practicable. It must also weigh the location's effect on your work, caring responsibilities, children's education and the support you rely on.^[21] If you think accommodation offered under a duty is unsuitable for your household, you can normally ask for a review — though emergency accommodation provided while the council investigates is challenged differently.^[21]

You can ask for a review of most significant homelessness decisions — the right comes from section 202 of the Housing Act 1996.^[21] Reviewable decisions include:

• whether you are homeless or eligible
• whether you are in priority need or intentionally homeless
• decisions ending a duty
• the suitability of accommodation offered to you.^[21]

You must request the review within 21 days of being notified of the decision, though the council can allow longer in writing. If the review goes against you, or you are not told the outcome within the prescribed time, you can appeal to the county court on a point of law under section 204 — again within 21 days.^[21]

In Hackney, request a review by emailing housingadvice@hackney.gov.uk or by writing to the Benefits and Homeless Prevention Service at the Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, London E8 1DY.^[14] The council does not have to accept a late request, so treat the deadline as fixed.

You do not have to do this alone. Homelessness is within the scope of civil legal aid, so advice and representation on a review or appeal from a legal aid solicitor can be free if you qualify — search with the government's Find a Legal Aid Adviser service.^[35] Shelter and Citizens Advice offer free housing advice at any stage.

If your complaint is about how the council handled your case — delays, lost paperwork, poor communication — rather than the decision itself, use Hackney's complaints procedure first and then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The ombudsman route is not a substitute for a section 202 review or a section 204 appeal.^[32]