Homelessness help from Stoke-on-Trent City 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.^[26]

If you have nowhere to stay tonight, phone. Call the council's Housing Solutions Service on 01782 233696. The council says that if you are homeless today, someone will call you back the same day and assess whether it can offer emergency accommodation.^[19]

Out of hours. Outside office hours, the council's homelessness page says to call 01782 234234.^[19] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

If you are at risk but not yet homeless, fill in the council's online Threatened with Homelessness application, or call 01782 233696 and an adviser will make the referral for you.^[19] The council's free online housing advice tool covers what to do if you have been asked to leave.^[19]

Domestic abuse. If you are in immediate danger, call 999. The council names the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, and local services Glow and New Era.^[21]

Sleeping rough. The council's rough sleepers team, run by Brighter Futures, has a freephone line, 0800 970 2304.^[22] If you are worried about someone else, call that line or contact StreetLink.^[22]

Free advice is available at any point. The council names Shelter and Citizens Advice in Stoke-on-Trent.^[21]

Stoke-on-Trent'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.^[26]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[26]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[26]
• 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.^[26]

What the council says it does. It will first try to stop you becoming homeless and, where possible, keep you in your current home. After an application you may be given a caseworker who will contact you.^[19] The council says council housing is in very short supply, so it will also look at private renting and supported housing.^[19]

Where you may be offered a home. The council says it does not have to offer housing in the area you would choose, and that an offer within Stoke-on-Trent will often be found suitable.^[19] A homeless application is separate from applying to the housing register.

Without a local connection to Stoke-on-Trent, 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.^[26] Immigration and residence status can affect what help you are eligible for — the general homelessness guide sets out who is eligible.^[26]

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.^[26]

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.^[26]

What the council uses. In October 2024 the council said it used a mix of local hotels and its own homeless units for households who needed temporary accommodation.^[23]

Hostels and supported housing. The council also lists hostel and supported accommodation providers in the city, including Concrete, Brighter Futures, North Staffordshire YMCA and Adullam Lifehouse.^[21]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 82 households in temporary accommodation in Stoke-on-Trent on 31 March 2026, 31 of them with children. 57 of the 82 were in bed and breakfast, 9 of them with children and none of those for more than 6 weeks.^[24]

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.^[26]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[26] 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.^[26]

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.^[26]

Asking Stoke-on-Trent for a review. The council's website does not set out its own review process, so ask in writing, to the Housing Solutions team that made the decision, within the 21 days. Do this even if you are still gathering your reasons, and keep a dated copy.^[26] 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.^[41]

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.^[38]