Homelessness help from Redbridge Council

If you are homeless tonight, or worried you are about to lose your home, contact Redbridge 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.^[32]

In office hours, phone or apply online. Call the council's housing team on 020 8708 4002, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.45pm. You can also fill in its online Housing Advice form, and it aims to reply within 48 hours.^[17]

Out of hours. If you need help urgently when the offices are closed, call 020 8554 5000. The council lists out-of-hours emergency cover on that number from 6pm to 8am on weekdays and at weekends. Between 4.45pm and 6pm on weekdays, the same number reaches its customer services team.^[18] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

Domestic abuse. If you are in immediate danger, call 999. The council says it will not contact your abuser. It may provide emergency accommodation, help you find a refuge, or help you get legal help to stay in your home.^[19] If it is not safe to stay at home, the housing team offers an emergency appointment, usually on the same day.^[17]

The council's Reach Out service supports people aged 16 or over at risk of domestic abuse. Call it on 0800 145 6410, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. At other times, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247, which is open 24 hours a day.^[19]

Sleeping rough. If you are sleeping rough, or worried about someone who is, contact StreetLink online or on 0300 500 0914. The council says it will then find the person and help them reach local services. StreetLink is not an emergency service: call 999 if the person needs urgent medical help or is under 18.^[23]

Free advice. The council names Shelter, Citizens Advice Redbridge and Crisis, and Depaul UK for young people aged 16 to 25.^[18]

Redbridge'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. It must take reasonable steps to help you keep your home or find another.^[32]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[32]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[32]
• 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.^[32]

What the council says it does. Its priority is to help you stay in your current home, if it is safe to do so. If family or friends have asked you to leave, it says an adviser can work with you all to find a solution.^[17]

Your appointment. The council says the appointment lasts about two hours and ends with a personal housing plan. Bring identity documents for everyone in your household, proof of income and savings, and your address history for the last five years.^[17]

Leaving hospital or prison. Hospital staff can refer you, and the council's assessment can take place at the hospital. If you are leaving prison, the council asks you to tell your probation officer at least 56 days before release.^[17]

Immigration status. The council says that if you are subject to immigration control, its help may be limited to advice and information.^[17] Who is eligible is set out in the general homelessness guide.^[32]

Without a local connection to Redbridge, your case may be referred to a council where you have one. It cannot refer you where you would be at risk of domestic abuse, or where you have suffered other violence and would probably face more.^[32]

If Redbridge has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible and in priority need, it must secure interim accommodation for you. This duty starts before it decides your application.^[32]

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. Even then, it is limited to 6 weeks in total.^[32]

What the council provides. The council says it cannot offer emergency housing to everyone who is homeless. It lists:

• leased homes, which are likely to be outside Redbridge and London
• hostels with shared facilities
• hotel rooms with no cooking facilities.^[18]

It warns you could stay in temporary accommodation for a long time.^[18]

Before you move in. The council says pets are not allowed unless you have a guide dog. You may share a kitchen and bathroom, and you pay for storing your own belongings.^[25]

Turning down an offer. The council says it can ask you to leave temporary accommodation if you refuse an offer of council housing or private rented housing. It may then have no duty to house you again.^[25] Get advice before you refuse anything.

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 2,818 households in temporary accommodation arranged by Redbridge on 31 March 2026, including 2,031 with children.^[30] The council's homelessness strategy said 49% of the households in its temporary accommodation were living outside the borough at the end of March 2025.^[27] The council also warns that waits on its housing register can be over 20 years.^[26]

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.^[32]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[32] 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.^[32]

You have 21 days from the date you are told the decision, unless the council agrees in writing to give you longer. If a review goes against you, or you do not hear back in time, you can appeal to the county court. The appeal must be on a point of law under section 204, again within 21 days.^[32]

Asking Redbridge for a review. The council's housing annual report for 2024-25 names a Reviews and Service Improvement team that handles statutory reviews and appeals.^[28] Its homelessness pages give no separate address for reviews, so use the contact details on your decision letter. Ask in writing within the 21 days, even if your reasons come later, and keep a dated copy.^[32]

Homelessness cases fall within civil legal aid. A legal aid solicitor can advise on and run a review or appeal at no cost if you qualify.^[45] The council points readers to the government's legal adviser finder and to Citizens Advice.^[18]

Complaints. Redbridge's complaints policy does not cover matters that have their own statutory route, such as reviews.^[29] A complaint about how your case was handled 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.^[42]