Homeless When Released From Prison

Contents:

• Priority Need for Prisoners and Ex-offenders
• Prisoners and Ex-offenders Treated as Intentionally Homeless
• Area of Housing

Priority need for prisoners and ex-offenders

In some circumstances, the Council might decide you are in priority need for accommodation because you have spent time in prison or on remand – but the fact that you have been in prison does not in itself mean that the Council has to treat you as in priority need.

When considering your homelessness application, the Council will look at:

• the length of time you spent in prison
• if any third party support is being provided to you either by the probation service, a youth offending team or a drug and alcohol team
• evidence provided by any third party (including any housing needs assessment)
• your homelessness vulnerability
• the period of time since your release from prison and how successful you have been in finding your own accommodation
• any third party support networks such as family, friends or a probation officer
• evidence of any other vulnerability such as mental health problems, drug or alcohol misuse, or a history of having been in care
• any other factors that might have an impact on your ability to find accommodation yourself

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Prisoners and ex-offenders treated as intentionally homeless

The Council may decide that you are intentionally homeless if you were evicted from your previous home because of criminal or antisocial behaviour, or because of rent arrears resulting from your time in prison. The Council may take the view that you should have known that your criminal activity could have resulted in you being sent to prison, and that this could lead to the loss of your home

If the Council decides you are intentionally homeless, it will only offer you limited help with finding housing. If you are in priority need, you may be offered temporary accommodation for a short period of time so as to assist you to find your own accommodation in the private sector.

It is very important to seek advice from the Council’s Housing Options Team, particularly in cases where it could be argued that you were sent to prison for a crime that was not premeditated, or was not deliberate.

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What area can you be housed in if you are homeless?

If you apply to the Council as homeless, checks will be carried out to see if you have a local connection with the Broxtowe Borough, which is established by living, working, or having immediate family (usually a parent or brother or sister) in the area.

Time spent in prison in a specific area does not give you a local connection with the area where the prison is located. However, if you have no local connection with any area or if you are fleeing domestic violence, you can apply to any council in any area.

There may be restrictions placed on where you can live. For example, if an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) says you cannot go to a particular area, you may need to seek help from a different council. High-risk prisoners managed by a multi-agency public protection arrangement (MAPPA) may be required to live in certain areas.

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