Homelessness prevention and support | Sevenoaks District Council

Homelessness prevention and support

Finding yourself at risk of being made homeless or having nowhere to live can be frightening and stressful. We want to help you by preventing homelessness from happen wherever possible. You do not need to wait until you have nowhere to stay. The earlier you contact us, the more we can do to help you.

You can ask us for help and advice if you are homeless now or facing homelessness within the next eight weeks (56 days) if:

  • You've received a notice from your landlord or agent
  • You’ve received a letter advising of possession proceedings from your mortgage provider
  • You've been told to leave your home
  • You no longer have a legal right to occupy your home
  • You've been prevented from gaining access to your home
  • You're at risk of violence or abuse if you were to remain or return to your home.
     

What we will do

We will carry out some checks to see if you are eligible for assistance and, if you are eligible, how we can help you.

We will contact you within five working days to:

  • Gather any required documents
  • Offer you an assessment of your housing situation
  • Work out what your needs are
  • Give you advice on the next steps.

We will help you by developing a personalised housing and wellbeing plan (PHP). This will set out the steps we will take to help you. The plan may include steps that we consider you should take.

The assessment and PHP will be kept under review and you will be notified of any amendments through the Kent Homechoice website.

The first option we will explore is how we can help you to remain in your current home if possible. If it is not possible, we will help you to secure alternative accommodation that you can move into in a planned and secure way.

If staying in your current home is not an option, please be aware that rents in the Sevenoaks District are high and broadening your search will give you more choice of available and affordable homes.

We operate a relocation scheme to other parts of the UK and will be happy to discuss this option with you.

We can end our duty to help if you refuse to cooperate with us.


What you need to do

Please make a Housing Options Query.


Our contact details

If you are homeless today and have nowhere safe to stay, please contact us during our office hours (Monday to Thursday 8.45am to 5pm, Friday 8.45am to 4.45pm)

Telephone: 01732 227000

Email: housing@sevenoaks.gov.uk

If you are homeless and our offices are closed, please call the number above for out-of-hours emergency support.

If you are rough sleeping or need housing advice, our monthly homelessness advice drop in service takes place in our Sevenoaks office.