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askcab - homeless?
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I’m 14 and I want to leave home can I do it?
The answer is you're a minor and so you can't but if you do you might find the police and social services are after you and you could be taken into care. If however, your parents have turned you out the Local Authority will have to look after you.
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Can my parents throw me out now I'm 16?
Surprisingly yes, they only have to give you care and accommodation until you're 16, so they really could throw you out.
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Under 18?
Once you reach 16 you don't need to get your parents consent to leave but if you decide to leave without their consent you could end up a Ward of Court. However, as long as you're 16+, have a job and somewhere safe to stay, you stand a pretty good chance of being able to continue as you please.
If you are forced to leave home due to violence or your parents just want you out you will usually be classed as having priority need when applying to the local authority as homeless. This means that the Local Authority will have to help you with housing. This may well be in Bed and Breakfast accommodation, in Norfolk this is often at one of the seaside resorts, no matter where you lived before. At the moment there is a long waiting list for council accommodation right across Norfolk so it may take sometime before you're found a permanent place.
If you have been in care there are special rules which means the social services have to help you. For more information contact your local CAB.
If you are disabled you may be classed as a “child in need” and if that is the case you should be helped by the social services and the housing authority.
If you are unhappy about your parents asking you to leave or being away from home you maybe able to get some help from connexions or from social services, who may then try and persuade your parents to let you stay.
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18 to 21
Once you reach the age of 18 you are an adult and as such the Local Authority have no duty to you over and above any other adult so you will need to meet the five tests to be considered for help if you have nowhere to live.
If you’ve been in care or fostered at the age of 16 or 17, for more than 13 weeks, then the local authority will have a duty to help you with housing if you haven’t been able to find any for yourself.
The housing authority won’t consider you as homeless if you are at Uni or College and can’t stay in your accommodation over the holidays but if you’ve been in care the social services may have a responsibility to help you even during the holidays.
Again if you’ve been in care you be entitled to help beyond the age of 21 depending on the length of time which has expired since were in care, whether you’ve been able to obtain and sustain accommodation since that time and whether you have a support network of friends or family.
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Does the Council have to help me?
That depends on a whole range of things but one of the main ones is "priority need" and whether or not you fit that. There are another 4 tests you have to meet but priorty need seems to be the most important. The others are:- have lived in the council's area or have a good local connection - maybe you have a relative in the area or perhaps are employed in the vicinity and
- normally resident in the UK
- did not become homeless on purpose and have no other suitable accommodation or
- have nowhere either in the UK or abroad you can legally occupy
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Who's classed as being in priority need?
if you're looking after children under 16 (or up to 19 in full-time education) or
if you or a member of your family living with you is pregnant, physically or mentally disabled, or of old age or
if you've been made homeless because of fire, flood or similar disaster
person who is aged 16 or 17
If you're aged 18, 19 or 20 and are not a student and were at any time when aged 16 or 17 in care for more than 13 weeks.
Even if you're over 21 and are considered vulnerable as a result of having been looked after, accommodated or fostered under the Children Act 1989 you may be considered to be a priority case.
having been in a prison of some kind
or if you're vulnerable as a result of becoming homeless due to violence, or a threat of violence, which is likely to be carried out. This violence could be related to your sex, race or other reason.
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If you're classed as priority what should the council give you?
Temporary - 28 days - accommodation while they find out more about your circumstances. Then they'll decide whether to give you permanent housing.
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