Homelessness help from Kirklees 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.^[33]

Phone the Housing Solutions Service on 01484 221350.^[22] If you have nowhere to stay tonight, phone rather than email. You can also email housing.solutions@kirklees.gov.uk. The council says it will contact you with an appointment for housing advice and an assessment of your needs.^[22]

Out of hours. The council's out-of-hours emergency service is on 01484 414933, which it lists as available 24 hours a day.^[23] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

In person. Housing Solutions advisers are also at Huddersfield Library, Civic Centre 3, Market Street, and Dewsbury Library, Railway Street, from Monday to Friday. The council's sleeping rough help page (opens in new tab) lists the hours for each.^[22]

Domestic abuse. If you are in immediate danger, call 999. The council names the national domestic abuse helpline, 0808 2000 247, which is free and open 24 hours a day, and the Pennine Domestic Abuse Partnership helpline, 0800 052 7222.^[26] You can also contact the Housing Solutions Service for help with somewhere safe to stay.^[26]

Sleeping rough. The council asks people to report someone sleeping rough through StreetLink, which passes the details to the council's rough sleepers team or the local outreach service.^[25]

Free advice is available at any point, including from Shelter and Citizens Advice. The council names Shelter, and Fusion Housing, which has offices in Huddersfield and Dewsbury.^[23]

Kirklees'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.^[33]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[33]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[33]
• 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.^[33]

What the council says it can do. Its help to keep you in your home can include mediation, negotiating with your landlord, a grant or loan to clear arrears, and a Discretionary Housing Payment.^[28]

A homeless application is not a housing register application. Kirklees's housing register is separate. The council's annual report records 21,745 households on its housing register at the end of March 2026, and 1,210 households housed during 2025/26.^[29]

Without a local connection to Kirklees, 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.^[33] Immigration and residence status can affect what help you are eligible for — the general homelessness guide sets out who is eligible.^[33]

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.^[33]

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.^[33]

What the council's policy says. Kirklees's placement policy says it will offer temporary accommodation inside the district wherever possible.^[30] It uses its own homes, nightly-paid accommodation, bed and breakfast as a last resort, private shared and self-contained homes, and supported housing.^[30] Under the policy:

• you get one offer and are asked to accept it straight away, without a right to view it first
• you pay the costs of the accommodation, which may include rent, service charges, utilities and council tax
• in a self-contained home, you may be expected to use the living room as a bedroom.^[30]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 357 households in temporary accommodation in Kirklees on 31 March 2026, 268 of them with children.^[32] Of the 357, 91 were in bed and breakfast, 21 of them with children and 4 of those for more than 6 weeks.^[32]

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.^[33]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[33] 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.^[33]

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.^[33]

Asking Kirklees for a review. For a review of a private rented offer, the council's policy asks for the request in writing and says a senior officer not involved in the original decision carries it out.^[31] Send it to the Housing Solutions Service within the 21 days, even if you are still gathering your reasons, and keep a dated copy.^[33] The decision letter should tell you how to ask.

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.^[48]

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.^[45]