Prevention of Homelessness and Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 Year Olds who may be Homeless and/or Require Accommodation; and Duty to Refer
Scope of this chapter
This chapter links to statutory guidance:
- Prevention of Homelessness and Provision of accommodation for 16 and 17 year old young people who may be homeless and/or require accommodation (2018): This guidance is solely concerned with the functions of children's services and housing services when young people seek help from, or are referred to, local authorities because of homelessness or being threatened with homelessness. It incorporates judgements made in the House of Lords over several years around the duties of local authorities under Section 20 (Children Act 1989) and Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996. The guidance also reflects the duties introduced under the Homelessness Reduction Act (2017);
- Homelessness - Duty to Refer: the Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) places a duty on specified public authorities to refer service users who they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to local authority homelessness/housing options teams. The guidance provides helpful information and detail on the referral process which is brought out in additional links below.
- Domestic Violence Act 2021 - The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced a statutory definition of domestic abuse. It amended the definition of priority need for homelessness, to include people homeless because of domestic abuse. This created new duties and powers for housing to help victims of domestic abuse.
See: Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 Year Olds who may be Homeless and/or Require Accommodation.
Young people may become homeless for a variety of reasons. However, family breakdown, mental health concerns and unemployment are often major contributing factors to this. 16 and 17 year olds who are homeless or threatened with homelessness are likely to be vulnerable and will often be at risk of harm in the absence of intervention. Safeguarding and promoting their welfare should be central to service provision. It is therefore essential that children's services and housing services work together to plan and provide services that are centred on young people and their families, and prevent young people from being passed back and forth between services.
See: A guide to the duty to refer.
In October 2018, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came into effect and provided new duties on local housing authorities to intervene at an earlier stage in order to reduce the risk of homelessness.
The guide to the duty to refer identifies a person is considered homeless if:
- They do not have any accommodation which is available for them which they have a legal right to occupy; or
- It is not reasonable for the person to occupy their current accommodation, for example, because they would be at risk of domestic abuse.
See: Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities.
This guidance advises that the service user must:
- Consent to the referral being completed in the first place;
- Allow the individual to identify the housing authority in England which they would like the notification to be sent to;
- Have consent from the individual for their contact details to be supplied so the housing authority can contact them regarding the referral.
Local authorities should make the referral process transparent on their websites and should also make the referral process as simple as possible. See: Duty to refer: Referral Form.
Domestic abuse is defined as abusive behaviour towards another person aged 16 or over who is personally connected to the perpetrator and this includes family members.
The Domestic Abuse Act amended the definition of priority need for homelessness in the Code of Practice to include people who are homeless because of domestic abuse.
For further details please see Chapter 21: Domestic Abuse in the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Good Practice Guide - Domestic abuse and housing decisions.
Last Updated: April 14, 2025
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