This section is primarily for readers who will not be returning to their home and who are looking for a place to live.
You will find in this section a brief overview of:
Additionally, you will find:
CRS providers work with people who have been convicted of an offence and given a custodial or community sentence. They support people to maintain the accommodation they already have or to find new accommodation, avoiding homelessness. The service is available for people under probation supervision and for sentenced people in custody who will be under probation supervision on release.
CRS providers are awarded contracts by region and will have a presence is every prison in England and Wales. They receive referrals for their service from probation practitioners for people in custody or the community, and this can be at any point in someone’s sentence, whenever a need arises.
They will arrange the first appointment to be face-to-face wherever possible and can meet people in custody and community locations. An action plan will be agreed to reach the accommodation outcomes needed and work with the individual to achieve their goals. When the case is closed, they will confirm what action has been taken and the next steps to continue on their journey.
CRS Accommodation services aim to ensure that people are supported to find or keep settled accommodation. This has been identified as a key factor in successful rehabilitation and a reduction in re-offending.
They achieve this by delivering a comprehensive and flexible service tailored to the individual, that:
To deliver a successful service, we establish, maintain and build relationships with social housing and private landlords, to sustain a network of organisations that can provide assistance to individuals in need of accommodation. We also work with local authorities to develop partnership arrangements to facilitate effective support plans under the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) and create links with rent deposit/bond schemes and credit unions.
In England and Wales there are over a hundred Probation Approved Premises, or Hostels as they are commonly known. It may well be your first experience of the outside world for some time, so knowing what they can offer you is important.
Rather than viewing APs as a negative experience or something to be endured before getting total freedom, try to see it as a positive experience where you get help and assistance to readjust to living outside of prison. You can use your time in a hostel to adjust to the changes that have taken place during your sentence, making the world less daunting by ensuring you are prepared for future eventualities.
More information on approved premises can be found at the National Approved Premises Association (NAPA) website, available at napa-uk.org which includes a list of available premises in the UK.
APs can help you with finding move-on accommodation and give you space and time to find something suitable, rather than having to rush and agree to the first available option. They also help facilitate calls to claim any benefits you need, UC or JSA, ESA, PIP, pension credit, etc. Local organisations visit to inform you of what they can offer, and they also have courses available.
LearnDirect can also offer help with updating your work skills to assist your return to the workplace. For more information on benefits, please see the appendix.
APs have rules and curfews, but these can help you with issues around substance misuse, timekeeping and adjusting to the outside world. There are ‘buddies’ who can show you around the local town and make sure you get to appointments, such as probation or benefit interviews, on time. On site you will be assigned a keyworker who will see you every week to discuss any issues that you may be having and discuss your future plans.
Setting up a bank account can be daunting if you haven’t had the chance to do it in prison, your keyworker should be able to guide you through this process. There are also fun and creative activities laid on and sometimes outings are planned. The weekly service charge for APs is usually £30 a week, including food – although if you require a special diet you may struggle to get exactly what you need.
The staff, your keyworker or buddy can advise you on local charities and shops with discount furniture, if you are settling into the same area. Local charities and support workers may also visit the premises.
Chaplaincy is available for any faith-based support or even just for a private chat.
When renting privately it is important to first calculate how much you can afford to spend on your rent. Local Housing Allowance (LHA), also referred to as Housing Benefit, has different rates depending on your age and living situation.
If you are under 35 and claiming LHA, you are only eligible for a single bedroom in a shared house or a bedsit. If you are looking to rent a one-bed flat or house then you should contact the council, or check their website, for a list of the allowances available.
Once you have calculated your monthly rental budget, including any personal payments, then the house hunt begins!
Make sure that where you will be living has mobile phone reception, check what bills are, or are not, included with the rent and also, if possible, try to visit the area at different times of the day. By visiting at different times, you can determine what the nightlife is like, what the neighbourhood is like and also how far local shops and transport links are.
For those under 35 you may find it difficult to rent privately if using LHA or if you have anti-social behaviour recorded. This is a complicated area, and it is worth speaking to an advisor from CAB, Shelter or a local advice centre.
Rent deposit and fees
If you are looking to rent privately you will need to find:
It is important to bear in mind that from June 2019 letting agent fees for tenants have been banned throughout the UK.
References may also need to be collected. Letting agents normally run a credit check and are also likely to require a reference from previous landlord(s) and employers. You may also need to draw the letting agent or landlord’s attention to the fact that you have just left or are leaving prison.
If you require assistance with your deposit most councils run a Rent Deposit Scheme (RDS) although there are likely to be conditions attached to the service. Some schemes are only open to priority-need council clients or former drug users. If your local council does not have an RDS or you are not eligible, it is worth asking them what support schemes are available. Local charities quite often offer help in this area so speaking to your local CAB or advice centre may provide you with further assistance, as they will be aware of many sources of funding and help. Some agents run a 'nil deposit option' scheme where there is a lower deposit, equivalent to a week or two's rent and there is an increase to the rent, spreading the deposit cost. This is not refundable and will not be paid when you leave the tenancy.
Duty to Refer and Local Authority support for prisoners
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 significantly reformed England’s homelessness legislation by placing duties on local housing authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness in their areas, and to provide homelessness services to all those who are eligible.
The duty to refer helps ensure that services are working together effectively to prevent homelessness by ensuring that peoples’ housing needs are considered when they come into contact with public authorities.
The duty to refer requires specified public authorities to identify and refer a service user who is homeless or may be threatened with homelessness, to a local housing authority of the service user’s choice.
Prior to a person’s release from prison, their Probation Practitioner will complete a duty to refer to the local authority the prisoner is returning to up to 56 days before release (certain local authorities accept duty to refers earlier).
A Housing Assessment will then be arranged by the CRS provider prior to release either in person or via phone call/videocall and the local authority will make a decision on if that person is deemed to be in ‘priority need’ or not and if there is a local connection to the area. Should a person be deeming in priority need, the local authority will have a duty to place the person in temporary accommodation on release while further options are explored.
For those homeless people who are not found to be in priority need the HPU must advise and assist them with housing advice via their Housing Options Team. Everyone is entitled to a written decision, known as a Section 184 letter, from the HPU explaining why they were turned down and did not meet their criteria for housing. A common rejection is a result of the applicant making him or herself intentionally homeless due to losing their accommodation by going to prison.
For people found not in priority need, the local authority will have no duty to accommodate immediately on release but will support with further referrals to various accommodation providers and may also be able to support with a deposit for private rent (see private rented section).
If you feel that the local authority’s decision was wrong, it is advisable to request a decision letter and then immediately approach a housing solicitor, Law Centre or CAB to challenge the decision. You will only have 21 days in which to appeal against the decision! CRS providers can support with this and usually contact Shelters legal team for advice and guidance.
Most local authorities will not view a prisoner leaver as being in priority need simply because they have been released from prison, unless they are deemed vulnerable. The key question which may be asked to decide if the person should be deemed vulnerable in this context is: ‘Is the applicant more vulnerable than an ordinary person if made homeless?’. This means that an applicant must be less able to look after themselves when homeless, or less able to fend for him or herself in finding accommodation, and more vulnerable than the average homeless person on the street.
The Code of Guidance (a policy document which local authorities should refer to for guidance), sets out relevant factors regarding institutional background, such as the length of time a person was in care, or in prison or in the armed forces and whether the applicant has been able to obtain and/or maintain accommodation during that period. Unless institutionalisation can be proved, most prisoners will not be housed by the HPU unless they have an additional priority need. What housing advisors find is that most local authorities will look at whether the client has made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ and whether they have a local connection to that borough at the first point of contact. Intentionally homeless in this context refers to someone who previously had a tenancy and who either abandoned their property or were evicted for non- payment of rent or anti-social behaviour. Prisoners often fall into the category of ‘making themselves intentionally homeless’ for being absent from their home and usually unable to pay their rent or evicted for breach of their tenancy conditions.
According to section 195A of the Localism Act, if a suitable offer of accommodation by the HPU is offered and refused, then the homelessness duty ceases. Under the term ‘suitable’, the council can now place people into Private Rented Sector (PRS) accommodation.
In Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, to be in ‘priority need’ refers to a person who has dependent children they normally reside with or to someone who is vulnerable due to old age, mental illness or a physical disability. A life-threatening illness such as HIV, sickle cell or hepatitis C could also count as a physical disability. Evidence of a physical disability or mental illness will be required by providing a medical report from GP or similar.
To be ‘eligible for assistance’ means that you must be a British citizen, or not be subject to any asylum/immigration controls, therefore you must have been granted permanent leave to remain in the UK. Proof of your identity, such as a birth certificate or passport, will be needed. You will also need a National Insurance number to be eligible to apply for public funds, such as Universal Credit or JSA, ESA, etc.
Anyone can apply to be on his or her council’s housing list, but the wait can be very long – over 2 years is a common wait time! Once you have a decision from the council with your band/point/score you are then able to ‘bid’ on available properties. As bidding is usually done online, if you don’t have anyone to bid on your behalf whilst in prison, you usually cannot start bidding until your release.
When you find a property that you like, you then indicate your interest and all those who indicate their interest are prioritised in order of their rating. Bidders are invited to view the property in descending rated order and are also at this stage interviewed by a local housing association or social housing provider (normally the landlord) to ensure that the housing on offer is suitable.
If your bid is successful, you will be offered a tenancy, usually a 12-month probationary lease. Most councils have rules on how many suitable properties can be rejected before they remove you from the waiting list, usually it is only two or three!
Some councils will refuse to put you on their list if you are a prisoner or suspend the account if already on the list until you have been released from prison.
As with a local authority’s priority need decisions, if you feel the band, you have been placed in doesn’t reflect the situation you find yourself in, you can appeal. The council will usually provide details for how to do that in their decision letter but otherwise their website should detail how to appeal their decision.
If you need assistance with the application process, whether it be completing forms and paperwork, producing evidence or appealing a decision, it is always worth speaking to the housing team based in your prison as they will be able to offer support and guidance.
The Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) provides temporary accommodation for up to 84 nights for homeless prison leavers and those moving on from Approved Premises (CAS1) or the Bail Accommodation and Support Service (CAS2), and assistance to help them move into settled accommodation.
From July 2021 CAS3 has been available in five ‘vanguard’ regions providing temporary accommodation for approximately 3,000 offenders who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness on release. From December 2022 CAS3 will roll out nationally, available in 12 regions, providing temporary accommodation for approximately 12,000 offenders at risk of homelessness per annum.
To be eligible for Cas3, you are required to be under Probation Licence on release from prison, including Post Sentence Supervision (PSS).
All Cas3 referrals must come from your Probation Practitioner. If you believe you are eligible, please speak with your Probation Practitioner and they will explain criteria.
Homeless Link advertise the London-wide Winter Night Shelters list every November and fortunately some of these shelters do allow for self-referrals. Quite a few of the shelters remain open until the end of March.
Many hostels and supported accommodation providers now only accept referrals from preferred agencies rather than self-referrals or ‘any agency’ referrals. These agencies vary, for example, in London they can be the Street Outreach Teams, Social Services and the Probation Service. Other hostels’ referral criteria may prioritise homeless day centres or the local authority.
The Street Outreach Teams are the people working for charities such as Thames Reach who go around various streets of London looking for rough sleepers to encourage them to move into hostels. However, the reason many people continue to be homeless is that they may be barred from hostels they once stayed at. Reasons for the exclusions can vary from non-payment of service charge, rent arrears, non-engagement with keyworkers, assaults on staff, etc. Another common factor is some economic migrants/refugees who may not be entitled to any benefits thus unable to claim LHA, which is essential for staying in hostels/ supported accommodation. In addition, not all homeless people sleep in high-visibility areas due to fear of attack so they prefer car parks, cemeteries, public parks, etc. – places where some outreach teams may not go.
Streetlink, www.streetlink.org.uk is a service that allows both members of the public and those sleeping rough to make a report. The information is passed to a local homelessness team. The teams are commissioned by the local council to provide specialist support and other options available to help those sleeping rough.
In London a number of boroughs have adopted the Pathway approach for making accommodation referrals. Prison housing/resettlement teams can complete Pathway’s referral forms and send these over, then the respective Pathway team should forward them to suitable accommodation providers in their boroughs. Many boroughs require applicants to demonstrate a ‘local connection’. A local connection means the applicant has to prove that they have lived in the borough they are applying to for at least 6 months previously or have a family connection to that borough.
Day centres and prison housing teams use a very helpful website run by Homeless Link to access information about hostels/support accommodation across the country by visiting their website www.homeless.org.uk This is a very good resource for information on accommodation and also to find out about day centres, CABs and Law Centres. The website provides you with information about what is available in each borough/county, how to make referrals, the criteria of the hostels and which type of offences will exclude people from applying for various accommodation, etc. You can type the borough into the search bar on their website and it will give you what is available, some boroughs have more service provisions available than others.
There are several charities providing housing advice and assistance in prisons, such as St Giles, Shelter, St Mungos, Nacro and De Paul Trust. It may be assumed that prison housing workers from charities like St Mungos should be able to refer directly into their own hostels, however, this is not always the case.
The Pavement Magazine has a section for prison leavers that can be viewed at www.thepavement.org.uk
For further advice on housing, including if you have a specific issue, please visit these pages, provided by Shelter and Housing Advice NI
England england.shelter.org.uk/get_help
Scotland scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/finding_a_place_to_live
Northern Ireland housingadviceni.org/advice-prisoners
Alternatively, you could contact St Giles Trust, your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Law Centre or another local advice centre (e.g., Southwark’s Advising London or Tower Hamlets’ Cambridge House). Local advice centres can easily be found by using a search engine, such as Google, or by asking the council if they have a list available.
For information on housing/homeless charities see the next few pages describing, by way of example, the help that Changing lives, Crisis, Emmaus and Glass Door can offer.
Also,
St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) provides supported housing in the North East. There are further details on SVP in the Other places to look section of the Directory.
The Forward Trust (see Getting into employment section) additionally offers housing and resettlement support through programmes they run in Surrey and Kent. www.forwardtrust.org.uk/support-type/housing-resettlement-support/
We are very grateful to St Giles Trust for reviewing and updating the 'Finding a place to live' section in this Directory.