Resources to help you support people living in temporary accommodation

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This information is for anyone supporting individuals or families living in temporary accommodation, to help them understand the law and their temporary accommodation rights. 

It is a quality-controlled selection of all the best legal information from a range of providers hand-picked by the Advicenow team, run by Law for Life.

Our resources

• Advicenow’s Top Picks on temporary accommodation
• Advicenow’s short guide on emergency and temporary accommodation rights. 
• Law for Life’s short video on living in temporary accommodation 

Homelessness Code of Guidance

This is Government guidance that local authorities should follow in all homelessness cases they are responsible for. It is a useful document to understand and refer to when dealing with local councils. They know they should be following the Code so if you quote it to them, they are more likely to pay attention.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s guide on temporary accommodation

This guide is aimed at housing officers who work for local councils. It sets out good practice on how housing officers should work with people who are living in temporary accommodation. If you are in this role it will be useful. If you are not, it could still be very useful as you can use it to explain to a housing officer what they should be doing. It includes helpful case studies where the Ombudsman has found the council to be at fault and the person complaining about their housing has a valid complaint.

National Homelessness Advice Service

This service, delivered by Shelter, provides free expert advice, training and online information resources to professionals working on the front line in England. It is funded by Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities. Eligible organisations include:

• Citizens Advice
• local authorities
• voluntary organisations
• public authorities such as prisons, probation, jobcentres or health services

Shelter England resource on how to challenge the suitability of accommodation offered by a local authority

This resource helps you understand what the legal test of suitability means, the procedure for challenging the suitability of an offer of homelessness accommodation, and the courts' powers where a challenge is successful.

September 2023