Homelessness help from Thurrock Council

If you are homeless tonight, or about to lose your home, contact Thurrock 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.^[37]

If you have nowhere to stay tonight, phone. Call the council's Homelessness team on 01375 652 652 or email housingoptions@thurrock.gov.uk. The council does not print hours for this line, which is also its general enquiries number.^[22]

Out of hours. For an emergency outside office hours, call 01375 372 468. The council gives its hours as 5pm to 9am Monday to Thursday, from 5pm on Friday through the weekend until 9am on Monday, and public holidays.^[24] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

If you could lose your home within 56 days, register online. The council asks you to register through the Housing Jigsaw website and choose "Register as Homeless". It says it will contact you within 2 working days.^[22]

Domestic abuse. In an emergency, call 999. You can report domestic abuse to the council's Housing Safeguarding Team on 01375 652 277; you do not have to be a council tenant.^[27] To get a place in a refuge, the council says you must first contact Essex Compass.^[26]

Sleeping rough. If you are sleeping rough in Thurrock, the council points you to StreetLink, online or on its 24-hour helpline, 0300 500 0914. If you are worried about someone else, alert StreetLink online, or call 999 if they are in immediate danger, need medical help or are under 18.^[28]

Thurrock'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 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.^[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 the council says it helps. It says it works with you for up to 8 weeks if you are threatened with homelessness, and a further 8 weeks if you become homeless. It says it is likely to try to offer you a home in the private rented sector.^[22]

Help with deposits and arrears. If you are homeless or at risk, the council's rent deposit and advance rent scheme may help you secure a private rented home. It may also offer a one-off payment towards rent arrears to stop an eviction.^[30] Its New Start scheme helps single people and couples without children, including people with a history of offending, find and keep a private rented home.^[31]

Council housing is a separate application. The council says registering with Housing Jigsaw is different from applying for council housing, which has its own qualification test.^[22][33]

Local connection. The council says its help depends partly on your connection to Thurrock.^[22] If you have none, your case may be referred to a council where you do. It is never referred where you would be at risk of domestic abuse, or where you have suffered other violence there and would probably face more.^[37]

If Thurrock has reason to believe you may be homeless, eligible and in priority need, it must secure interim accommodation while it looks into your case. The duty arises before any decision on your application.^[37] The council says you will need to pay a weekly charge if you are given temporary accommodation.^[24]

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 when nothing else is available. Even then, it can be used for no more than 6 weeks in total.^[37]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 644 households in temporary accommodation in Thurrock on 31 March 2026, 523 of them with children.^[36] Of the 644, 415 were in self-contained homes from private providers paid by the night, and 204 in council or housing association homes.^[36]

What the council has said. In its homelessness strategy for 2020 to 2025, the council said it had bought Brook House, then a hostel with ten units of temporary accommodation. It committed to look at increasing council-owned temporary accommodation inside the borough.^[35] In February 2026 its Cabinet approved a housing solutions improvement plan, which the council says will tighten oversight of temporary accommodation and help households move on sooner.^[21]

Hostels and night shelters. The council says there are no hostels in Thurrock you can contact directly. It lists night shelters in nearby areas, including Southend, Basildon, Chelmsford and Colchester.^[29] In severe cold weather, it says it will act quickly so that rough sleepers at risk have shelter.^[28]

Tell the council what matters. Tell your housing officer about anything that affects where you can live, such as medical needs, school or work. Get advice before you refuse any accommodation you are offered.

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. If the review goes against you, or you do not hear back in time, you can appeal. The appeal goes to the county court on a point of law under section 204, again within 21 days.^[37]

Asking Thurrock for a review. Ask in writing, quoting your case reference, and keep a dated copy. Ask within the 21 days, even if you are still gathering your reasons.^[37] The decision letter should tell you how to ask.

Housing register decisions are different. A decision about your council housing application is appealed through the council's housing application appeal form. It says it usually gives the outcome within 28 days.^[33]

Homelessness cases fall within civil legal aid. If you qualify, a legal aid solicitor can advise on and run a review or appeal at no cost. Check through the government's Find a Legal Aid Adviser tool.^[51] The council also points people to Shelter and Citizens Advice for advice.^[22][26]

A complaint about how your case was handled, rather than what was decided, goes to the council first. After that, it can go to 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.^[48]