Housing advice and homelessness

Emergency accommodation

If we offer you emergency accommodation, it is likely to be a nightly let arrangement where you will be provided with one room, usually with a shared bathroom and you will be required to arrange your own meals.

If homelessness duty is accepted for you, you may be required to move from emergency into temporary accommodation, until an offer of more settled accommodation can be made. This move is likely to be into a privately rented property.

Be advised that we will endeavour to provide emergency and temporary accommodation within the borough of Hillingdon, but this is not always possible and may be arranged out of the borough.

We will make sure the accommodation meets the following standards:

  • that it is clean and safe
  • they meet current health and safety standards
  • adequate cooking facilities are provided in some of the properties
  • landlords of bed and breakfast accommodation will deal with repairs

All households have to pay for their emergency/temporary accommodation, the charges vary according to the type and size of the accommodation. You can make an application for housing benefit towards the rent liability but you may still be liable for service charges and any shortfall in the rent.

If you need somewhere to store your belongings whilst staying in emergency or temporary accommodation, we recommend you make an application for a council garage. It is important to note this is not a free service and you will be charged for the storage costs.

Currently, we do not have any temporary accommodation providers who allow pets in their rooms. Therefore it is your responsibility as a pet owner to arrange rehoming service for your pets.

If you are offered an offer of move-on accommodation, you will need to vacate your temporary accommodation on the date you are asked to leave. If you refuse an offer of accommodation which is suitable for the needs of you and your household, no further offers of accommodation will be made and you will need to make your own arrangements for alternative accommodation.

If you need to contact us in an emergency situation outside of office hours, we are available to provide advice 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For emergency situations that cannot wait until office opening times, please call us on 01895 250111.

Page last updated: 17 Mar 2023