Homelessness help from City of Wolverhampton 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.^[29]

If you have nowhere to stay, phone. Call the council's Housing Advice Service on 01902 556789 and choose option 2. The council lists its office hours as Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.^[19] If you are at risk but still have somewhere to stay for the next couple of weeks, you can email HousingAdvice@wolverhampton.gov.uk or use the council's online housing advice tool.^[19]

Out of hours. If you have nowhere to stay outside office hours, at a weekend or on a bank holiday, call the council's out-of-hours line on 01902 552999. It is for emergency advice only.^[19] If you or someone else is in danger, call 999.

Domestic abuse. If you are in immediate danger, call 999. The council names The Haven, Black Country Women's Aid and the national Refuge helpline for specialist support.^[19]

Sleeping rough. If you are sleeping rough, the council's outreach partner P3 has a freephone line, 0800 107 6753, which the council says is open 24 hours a day.^[21] If you are worried about someone else, contact StreetLink: the council says alerts in Wolverhampton go to its commissioned outreach service, which visits the location.^[21]

Free advice is available at any point. The council names Shelter, Crisis and Citizens Advice.^[19]

Wolverhampton'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 does. A Homeless Services Officer works with you on a personal housing plan, looking at all suitable options, including private renting. Where possible, the council tries to help you stay in your home.^[19] Its free, impartial Call Us First service mediates between landlords and tenants to help keep tenancies going.^[19] The council's website also describes a rent deposit scheme, which offers a landlord a bond instead of a deposit for eligible people with a local connection.^[19]

What to bring. The council says it will usually need proof that you are homeless or at risk, such as an eviction notice or a message from the person asking you to leave. There are exceptions, and the officer will help.^[19]

Without a local connection to Wolverhampton, 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 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.^[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]

Emergency accommodation. The council commissions the charity P3 to run short-term emergency accommodation for people its Housing Options team has verified as homeless. P3 describes 35 rooms across 2 sites, for up to 4 weeks, with staff on site day and night.^[25] In severe cold weather the council arranges extra emergency accommodation for people who would otherwise sleep rough.^[21]

The local picture. Official statistics recorded 245 households in temporary accommodation in Wolverhampton on 31 March 2026, 202 of them with children. In all, 10 households were in bed and breakfast.^[27]

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 Wolverhampton for a review. The council's website does not set out its own review process, so ask in writing, to the homelessness team that made the decision, within the 21 days. Do this even if you are still gathering your reasons, and keep a dated copy.^[29] 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.^[44]

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]