Homelessness help from Harlow Council

If you are homeless tonight, or about to lose your home, contact Harlow 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.^[31]

If you have nowhere to stay, phone. Call Contact Harlow, the council's phone line, on 01279 446655. Its offices are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.45pm, opening at 10am on Wednesdays.^[20]

Out of hours. For a genuine emergency outside office hours, the council gives its out-of-hours number, 01279 446666.^[22] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

If you might lose your home soon. If you still have somewhere to stay but could lose it in the next 8 weeks, fill in the council's online homelessness assessment form. The council says a housing officer will contact you within 5 working days.^[20]

Domestic abuse. In an emergency, call 999. The council says you can call its Housing Options team or visit the Civic Centre, and bring a friend or an adviser with you. It says it can help you apply for a safe house or temporary accommodation.^[23] It names the local charity Compass, whose helpline is 0330 3337 444, the free 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline for women on 0808 2000 247, and the Men's Advice Line on 0808 801 0327.^[23]

Sleeping rough. If you are worried about someone sleeping rough, the council asks you to tell it through StreetLink. It works with the local charity Streets2Homes, which runs a day centre at 2 Wych Elm with housing advice, food, washing facilities and clothing. The council gives its number as 01279 430011, open Monday to Friday, 9am to 2pm.^[24]

Harlow'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.^[31]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[31]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[31]
• 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.^[31]

How the council says it helps. It creates a personal housing plan to help you keep your home or find another. It says the new home does not have to be council housing and could be a private rented tenancy. You can see your plan through an online case account.^[20] It says it works with you for up to 8 weeks if you are threatened with homelessness, and a further 8 weeks if you become homeless.^[20]

Private renting, not council housing. The council says it has a long waiting list for council housing, so a privately rented home is usually the quickest way to move.^[26] It may be able to help with a deposit and rent in advance through its rent deposit scheme; ask its Housing Options and Advice team at housing.options@harlow.gov.uk.^[26]

Council housing is a separate application. To apply for council or housing association housing, you join the council's Housing Needs Register, which has its own qualifying conditions, including a local connection rule.^[29] A homeless application does not put you on it.

Eligibility. The council says you must qualify under immigration rules to get its help.^[20] Who is eligible is set out in the general homelessness guide.^[31]

Local connection. If you have no local connection to Harlow, your 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.^[31]

If Harlow 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.^[31] The council says it only arranges emergency housing for people who are legally homeless and in priority need.^[20]

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.^[31]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 384 households in temporary accommodation in Harlow on 31 March 2026, 261 of them with children.^[28] The council's 2025 homelessness strategy put the usual number at between 250 and 350.^[27]

What the council uses. The strategy lists supported housing, council-owned homes, rooms in shared properties let by the night, self-contained homes from private providers, and emergency bed and breakfast.^[27]

What it has committed to. The strategy says the council will not use bed and breakfast for homeless 16 and 17 year olds, and will keep to the legal limit for families. It aims to place people in emergency accommodation inside Harlow where that is safe and available.^[27]

Tell the council what matters. Tell your housing officer about anything that affects where you can live, such as medical needs, school or work. Get advice before you refuse any accommodation you are offered.

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.^[31]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[31] 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.^[31]

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.^[31]

Asking Harlow for a review. Ask in writing, quoting your case reference, and keep a dated copy. Ask within the 21 days, even if you are still gathering your reasons.^[31] The decision letter should tell you how to ask.

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.^[46] The council points people to Citizens Advice Harlow and Harlow Advice Centre for advice on eviction.^[25]

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.^[43]