Homelessness help from Swindon Borough Council

If you are homeless tonight, or worried you are about to lose your home, contact Swindon Borough Council straight away — it cannot turn you away without looking at your case. For anyone eligible, the council's duties begin once you are likely to become homeless within 56 days.^[37]

By phone or email. Call 01793 445500 or email hoptions@swindon.gov.uk. The council's page for people already homeless gives the phone hours as 9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.^[21]

In person. You can visit the Homelessness Prevention Team without an appointment at the Beckhampton Street entrance of Wat Tyler West. It is open from 9am to 4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 12.30pm to 4pm on Wednesday.^[21] If you have nowhere safe to stay tonight, phone or visit rather than waiting for an email reply.

Out of hours. The council's emergency numbers page says to call the same number, 01793 445500, if you are homeless or at risk of homelessness outside normal working hours. Its housing contacts page also lists an out-of-hours Homeless Officer line, 01793 466451, for people who become homeless outside office hours.^[25] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

If you are fleeing domestic abuse. If you are in immediate danger, call 999. The council says you count as homeless if you are at risk of domestic abuse at home and cannot stay there. It has a dedicated team in Housing Options, will not contact the person who harmed you, and will not refer you back to the area where the abuse happened.^[26] The Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service runs a 24-hour helpline on 01793 610610.^[27]

Sleeping rough. The council says anyone sleeping rough who has access to public funds and asks for help will be offered a case officer, a personal housing plan and safe emergency accommodation. It points people to the Haven Day Centre for food, showers and advice. If you are worried about someone else, tell its outreach team through StreetLink.^[28]

Free housing advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice is available at any point.

Swindon'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.^[37]
• If you are already homeless and eligible, it owes you the relief duty — reasonable steps to help you secure accommodation.^[37]
• In both cases it must assess your circumstances and record the steps you and the council will each take in a personalised housing plan.^[37]
• 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.^[37]

How Swindon says it helps. The council says its first step is often to help you stay where you are, if that is safe. It will speak to the people asking you to leave, check the process has been fair and legal, and ask what you have already done to keep your home. It can also help you find private or supported housing.^[21]

Young people. If you are aged 16 or 17, the council's housing team and Children's Social Care can carry out a joint assessment of your needs.^[31]

Without a local connection to Swindon, 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.^[37] Immigration and residence status can affect what help you are eligible for — the general homelessness guide sets out who is eligible.^[37]

If Swindon 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.^[37]

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.^[37]

The local picture. Government figures record 353 households in temporary accommodation arranged by Swindon on 31 March 2026, including 222 households with children. Of the 353, 160 were in private sector accommodation. None of the 27 households in bed and breakfast had children.^[35]

What it can look like. The council says emergency accommodation can include a hotel.^[21] It has also turned Saltzgitter Court in Toothill into transitional accommodation, with 25 refurbished units and support on site.^[28]

Charges and the housing register. The council's housing allocations policy counts unpaid charges for emergency accommodation as a debt to the council, and housing-related debt can keep you off the housing register.^[32] If the council accepts the main housing duty, the same policy usually places you in Band B on the register.^[32] For help with money and debt, the council's homelessness pages point to Citizens Advice Swindon and the Southern England Law Centre.^[21]

The council publishes no separate placement policy on its homelessness pages. 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.^[37]

Section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 gives you the right to have most important homelessness decisions looked at again.^[37] 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.^[37]

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.^[37]

Asking Swindon for a review. Swindon does not publish a review guide on its homelessness pages, so follow your decision letter. It should say where to send your request. Ask in writing within the 21 days, even if you are still gathering your reasons, and keep a dated copy.^[37]

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.^[50]

Complaints are a separate route. The council says its complaints process does not replace your right to appeal against a decision.^[33] 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.^[47]