Gypsies/Travellers are entitled to help from the council if they have nowhere safe and permanent to live. This page looks at your rights.
What should I do if I end up homeless?
If you find yourself with nowhere to stay (for example, if you do not have anywhere safe to legally park your caravan or mobile home, or if you can no longer live there) you should contact your nearest council and ask to make a homeless application. If you move around a lot, it's best to contact the council where you have the strongest connection to (for example, where you work, have family, or have stayed the longest), but in practice you can apply to any council, although you may be referred to another council where you have a local connection.
If you have been evicted, or are likely to be evicted from a site within the following 28 days, and have nowhere to go, you can ask to make a homeless application straight away. If you are being evicted from a council site, the council may decide to let you stay on the site, either temporarily, while it looks into your situation, or on a more long-term basis.
If you become homeless out of office hours, the council should have a 24-hour emergency number you can call. You can find this number listed in the Advice Services Directory or on your council's website. You can also call Shelter's free housing advice helpline on 0808 800 4444. An adviser may be able to help you find somewhere safe to stay.
How can the council help me?
If you have nowhere to live and you make a homeless application to the council it has to offer you somewhere temporary to stay while it looks into your situation and decides what kind of help you are entitled to – unless your immigration status means that you are not entitled to help.
This temporary accommodation won't necessarily be on a site - it may be in a house, a flat or a hostel. If you would prefer your temporary accommodation to be on a site, you should say so when you make your application, although it is still not guaranteed that you will get a place.
If you don’t appear to have a priority need the council must still provide you with advice and assistance, which could include details of any council or private gypsy/traveller sites in the area.
In emergency situations, the council may provide temporary accommodation in a private bed and breakfast hotel. However, if anyone in your household has dependent children or is pregnant, you should only be placed in bed and breakfast if there is no other accommodation available. In any event the council must not leave you in B&B accommodation for a period longer than 6 weeks.
If you are under 18 or have children, you may also be able to get help from social services.
What happens when I make a homeless application?
When you go to the council to make a homeless application, you will be asked to fill in a form. If English isn't your first language or you have any difficulty reading and writing, you can ask for help with this. You should then be given an appointment to see a homelessness officer.
You can take a friend along to the interview for support, and you can also ask for an interpreter to translate for you if English is not your first language or you use sign language.
When you make your application, make sure you state clearly whether your preference is for permanent accommodation on a site, or in settled housing (for example, a 'bricks and mortar' flat or house).
The homelessness officer should deal with your application sensitively. If you feel they are treating you unfairly because you are a Gypsy/Traveller, you can complain about them - read the page on discrimination to find out how.
What does the council need to look at?
When you make a homeless application, the council will have to look into your circumstances to work out what help you are entitled to. Use our free online assessment to get an idea of what the results of this assessment are likely to be.
Are you eligible for assistance?
Firstly, you will have to show that you are eligible for assistance. This assessment is mainly based on your immigration status and where you normally live. If you are a UK citizen and normally live in the UK you will be eligible for assistance.
Are you legally classed as homeless?
You don't have to be sleeping on the streets to fall within the legal definition of homelessness. You may be classed as homeless if:
- you own a caravan or mobile home but have nowhere legal to park it
- you are staying temporarily with family and friends, in their caravan or in 'bricks and mortar' accommodation and it is not reasonable for you to stay there or your family or friends have asked you to leave.
- you have a home, but it's not reasonable for you to live there, for example, because it is unaffordable or in a bad state of repair or you're in danger there (eg because of domestic violence, or serious harassment).
Are you in priority need?
Certain groups of people are given the status of being in priority need - you must meet these criteria to be offered long-term accommodation by the council.
Are you intentionally homeless?
The council also needs to find out whether you deliberately did (or didn't do) something to cause yourself to become homeless. For example, if you have been evicted from a site, you will have to show that this wasn't your fault. If it was not reasonable for you to live in the accommodation you have left or been evicted from, for example because you are escaping domestic abuse or racial violence or harassment, or it was not affordable, you should not be found intentionally homeless.
Do you have a local connection?
The final issue which the council will look at is whether you have a local connection with them. This is to establish whether you have sufficient links with the area. If the council doesn't think you have a local connection with its area, it may refer you to another council where you do have a local connection, provided you are not at risk of violence in that area.
If you have been travelling around a lot, you may not have sufficient links to any council areas. In this case, any council you apply to should agree to house you, and shouldn't pass you onto another area. If they do make you apply to another council, then contact an adviser at a Shelter advice centre or Citizens Advice, as they will be able to help you deal with the council. Alternatively, you may have sufficient links to establish a local connection in more than one council. In that case, you should apply to the council in whose area you would most like to live.
Will the council give me a pitch on a site?
If you pass all the council's homelessness tests, you should be offered a place to live. This may be a temporary home until a longer term solution to your housing problems can be found. The temporary accommodation may not necessarily be on a site, it may be in regular 'bricks and mortar' accommodation, which may be problematic if you want to continue a travelling lifestyle. The council must, however, consider your particular needs - including any aversion you have to conventional housing.
If you want to remain living on a site, you should make this clear to the council when you make your homeless application. As part of their duty to house you, the council should find you somewhere that's suitable for your needs. Read this page if you feel that the accommodation you have been offered is not suitable. If you end up in regular housing, the council should consider moving you if a suitable pitch becomes available on a site. In the meantime, the council should offer you advice and support in adapting to your new lifestyle.
Can I apply to the council's housing waiting list?
Yes. If you would like to move into permanent council housing, you can put your name down on the council's housing waiting list at the same time as you make your homeless application. Make sure you make it clear to the housing department that you want to do both.
What if the council won't help me?
Find out more about the options you may have if the council won't help you.
If you need help with legal or other issues, use our directory to find agencies in your area that ay be able to help you. Alternatively, you can contact Friends, Families and Travellers or the Traveller Law Reform Project.
