Homelessness help from North Tyneside 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.^[40]

Call the Homeless Prevention Team free on 0800 011 6511.^[28] The council's Homefinder site gives its Housing Advice Team's hours as 9am to 4.30pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Friday.^[32] It also gives a second number, 0191 643 2520, and the email housingadvice@northtyneside.gov.uk.^[32] The council says it will offer you an appointment with an officer to talk about your situation.^[28]

Out of hours. If you have nowhere to stay, the same site says to call the out-of-hours service on the freephone number, 0800 011 6511.^[32] That covers 6pm to 8am, weekends and bank holidays.^[32] The council's emergency contacts list also gives its Emergency Response line, 0330 333 7475, which its domestic abuse page names for emergency accommodation out of hours.^[35] No council page says who answers on weekdays between the advice line closing and 6pm. The council's homelessness pages give the freephone number without hours, so call it then too, and try 0330 333 7475 if you cannot get through.^[28][35] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

Domestic abuse. If you are in immediate danger, call 999. The council names its North Tyneside Integrated Domestic Abuse Service, on 0191 251 3305, which it says can be reached by phone 24 hours a day.^[36] The council says it will not turn you away because you have not reported abuse to the police.^[36]

Sleeping rough. You can report someone sleeping rough to the Homeless Prevention Team on the freephone number, by email to homeless.prevention@northtyneside.gov.uk, or through StreetLink.^[30] In winter the council runs a severe weather emergency protocol, with an emergency sit-up service overnight.^[30]

Free advice is available at any point, including from Shelter and Citizens Advice, which the council names as an independent advice service.^[28]

North Tyneside'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.^[40]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[40]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[40]
• 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.^[40]

What the council says it does. It works with you on a Personal Housing Plan setting out what it will do and what you need to do, and gives you a copy.^[28] If it cannot prevent or relieve your homelessness in time, it takes a formal homelessness application. Bring your documents to the appointment: the council says missing ones can delay its help.^[28]

A homeless application is not a housing register application. The council's homes are let through North Tyneside Homefinder, which said in October 2026 that assessing a new application takes at least 25 weeks.^[33]

Without a local connection to North Tyneside, 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.^[40] Immigration and residence status can affect what help you are eligible for — the general homelessness guide sets out who is eligible.^[40]

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.^[40]

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.^[40]

What the council's strategy says. The council's 2023–2028 homelessness strategy says most temporary accommodation is furnished council homes spread across the borough, and that bed and breakfast or a hotel is used only in exceptional circumstances.^[37] If nothing is available in North Tyneside, or it is not safe for you to stay in the area, it places you outside the borough and moves you back when it can.^[37]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 67 households in temporary accommodation in North Tyneside on 31 March 2026, 24 of them with children.^[39] Of the 67, 14 were in bed and breakfast, 1 of them a household with children, which had not been there for more than 6 weeks.^[39]

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.^[40]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[40] 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.^[40]

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.^[40]

Asking North Tyneside for a review. The council's homelessness pages say you have the right to challenge a decision but do not set out how.^[28] Follow the instructions in your decision letter, and write to the Homeless Prevention Team within the 21 days even if you are still gathering your reasons. Keep a dated copy.^[40]

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.^[55]

A complaint about how your case was handled, rather than what was decided, goes through the council's complaints process first. The council's own procedure says homelessness complaints are not for the Housing Ombudsman; they go on to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.^[38] That route cannot replace a section 202 review or a section 204 appeal, which have their own strict deadlines.^[52]