Homeless
Housing Options and Homelessness Team
The Council has a responsibility to help anyone making
a claim of homelessness. Help is provided by the Housing
Options and Homelessness Team who are based in Lewis House in
Manvers Street, Bath. The team offers a free and confidential
service on a wide range of housing matters for people who live in
the district and works in partnership with other housing and
support
related service providers to help prevent
homelessness.
The Council's duties depend on a fair and reasonable assessment
of each person's circumstances and sometimes we will need
information from other people to help us make a decision.
The team provides early and expert advice to help
prevent homelessness and we provide practical advice and
information about the housing
options that are available within the local area.
If you think you are going to be homeless or threatened
with homelessness please make an appointment to see someone from
the Housing Options and Homelessness Team.
Appointments to see an adviser can be booked in advance by
phoning 01225 396296. In an emergency people can
be interviewed immediately. We also offer appointments
at Council Connect at The Hollies in Midsomer Norton on Tuesday
mornings 9.30 til 12.30.
Opening times:
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 8.30am - 5.00pm
Wednesday 9.30am - 5.00pm
Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm
If you need help outside of office hours, please
contact the emergency duty team on 01454 615165.
We provide a range of housing
information sheets and leaflets for you to download.
What you can expect from us
The Housing Options and Homelessness Team provides a free and
confidential advice service on a wide range of housing matters for
people who live in the Bath and North East Somerset area.
We aim to treat the people we see with dignity and respect
whatever their circumstances. We will interview you in a
private room and you can bring a friend or advisor with you
whenever you see us.
If you are unable to come to our offices we will arrange to
visit you at home or in a safe environment that you can get to.
The housing adviser who sees you will become your caseworker and
will work with you for as long as you need to sort out your housing
problems.
Advice
You can expect accurate up to date advice. If we feel you
need to speak to a specialist agency we will enable you to do
so. We will also refer you to another, more appropriate
agency if we feel our position as a Council service would
compromise the advice we are able to give you.
Confidentiality
The Council has policies on Data Protection and Freedom of
Information. We will only ask you for relevant and not
excessive information that we need to assess your housing needs.
The information will be kept secure. We share restricted
information about you with housing associations to help you get
housed. You will be interviewed in a private room to ensure
your privacy.
Equal Opportunities
You can expect everyone in the Housing Options and Homelessness
Team not to discriminate against anyone because of their gender,
race, sexuality, disability, age, nationality, religious belief,
political belief or any other reason. If you have a special
reason why you want to be interviewed by a male or a female officer
we will arrange this for you. The Council has an Equal
Opportunities Policy.
Acceptance
We are here to listen and assist you. We will not form
judgements on your character or
feelings.
What the Housing Options and Homelessness Team expects from
you
Keeping appointments
If you cannot attend an appointment please tell us so that our
time is not wasted and another appointment can be made.
Telling us the facts
We try to give fair and realistic advice and we need you to tell
us about your housing problems and circumstances. We expect
you to provide any documents that we ask for as quickly as
possible. Sometimes it can be difficult to remember all the
facts and we understand this but you must not give us false
information. You can be prosecuted if you provide false
information to get housed.
Reasonable behaviour
We believe that everyone should be treated fairly and in an
environment free from the threat of abuse.
Do not use racist and sexist comments or any other offensive
comments or abuse or threatening behaviour. Anyone who
persists in making offensive comments or who makes a member of
staff feel threatened could be asked to leave an interview.
We expect everyone not to smoke or drink alcohol when being
interviewed.
How to complain if you are unhappy about our service
We want to know if we have got something wrong. You can
ask to speak to a Manager or write a complaint using the leaflet
'Making a Complaint about Council Services' which is available from
any of the Council offices.
You can expect your complaint to be dealt with promptly, fairly
and without affecting any future contact between you and the
Housing Options and Homelessness Team.
This information can be made available in a range of
languages, large print, Braille, on tape, electronic and accessible
formats. Contact the Information Officer on 01225 477983,
Minicom 01225 477043 or email information_officer@bathnes.gov.uk
Customer Service Standards
See our Customer
Service Standards.
