If you are homeless or working on behalf of homeless people the information in this leaflet will be of assistance to you.
Local authorities have a wide range of powers to secure accommodation for homeless people.
In addition to the direct provision of housing, local authorities can make arrangements with voluntary organisations to make accommodation available for homeless people, provide financial or other assistance to homeless people and, if necessary, arrange private accommodation. In practice, local authorities liase closely with health boards, voluntary bodies providing accommodation and with other statutory and voluntary bodies providing a range of services to homeless people to ensure as wide ranging and complete a response as possible to homelessness. This means that persons who have no accommodation available to them and persons living in night shelters etc. solely because they have no other accommodation may be regarded as homeless by the local authority where they are unable to provide accommodation from their own resources. Accommodation, depending upon whether the need is for long term, short term, transitional or emergency accommodation, can take the form of local authority housing, hostel type accommodation provided by statutory agencies or voluntary bodies, emergency bed and breakfast accommodation provided in the private sector, or suitable private rented accommodation. Local authority housing People in need of permanent housing can apply to a local authority for a tenancy in a local authority house or flat.