Homelessness help from Southampton City Council

If you are homeless tonight, or worried you are about to lose your home, contact Southampton City 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.^[29]

In an emergency, in person. The council says to visit Gateway at the Civic Centre, Civic Centre Road, Southampton SO14 7LY, where staff can refer you straight to the Homeless Service. Gateway is open 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday.^[20]

By phone or email. Call the Homeless Service on 023 8083 2327, or email homeless.service@southampton.gov.uk. The service is open 9am to 5pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am to 5pm on Wednesdays and 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays.^[20] The council also has an online form, but it aims to reply to that within seven working days. If you have nowhere safe to stay tonight, phone or go to Gateway instead.^[20]

Out of hours. The council says it can help if you are made homeless by an emergency out of hours, through its out-of-hours service on 023 8023 3344.^[20] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

Sleeping rough. The Homeless Day Centre at 30 Cranbury Avenue, SO14 0LT, is open every day from 10am to 2pm. The council says people who need emergency shelter can approach it there.^[23] If you are worried about someone sleeping rough, email the Homeless Service or contact StreetLink.^[23]

Free housing advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice is available at any stage of your case. The council lists Shelter's free helpline, 0808 800 4444, and points young people to the No Limits advice centre.^[24]

Southampton'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.^[29]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[29]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[29]
• 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.^[29]

What the council says it can do. In most cases, it says, it can help you stay in your current home. It can mediate with a landlord, help with rent arrears, and refer you to specialist money advice if your home is being repossessed. If you cannot stay, it can refer you to the Homeseeker Lettings Service for help finding a private rented home or a deposit scheme.^[20]

Without a local connection to Southampton, 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.^[29] Immigration and residence status can affect what help you are eligible for — the general homelessness guide sets out who is eligible.^[29]

If Southampton 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.^[29]

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.^[29]

What the council says about its approach. The council says it tries to keep people in their homes and to keep its use of emergency accommodation as low as it can.^[20] Its homelessness strategy for 2024 to 2029 aims to use temporary accommodation when it is needed, but to try to find other housing options.^[26]

The local picture. In September 2024 the council said homeless households approaching it had risen by 64% since 2019-20. It said rising demand had put more households into temporary accommodation, and that its spending on emergency accommodation, including bed and breakfast and nightly-paid rooms, came at a significant cost.^[27] It approved leasing a building of studio flats for emergency and temporary accommodation, to move households out of unsuitable placements such as hotels sooner.^[27]

Rough sleepers in winter. The council says it provides extra emergency beds in winter for people sleeping rough or about to, on top of the spaces it and its partners provide all year.^[25]

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.^[29]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[29] 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.^[29]

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.^[29]

Asking Southampton for a review. Ask in writing within the 21 days, even if you are still gathering your reasons, and keep a dated copy. Your decision letter should say where to send it.^[29]

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.^[44] Shelter's free helpline is another place to start.^[24]

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.^[41]