Homelessness

If you are homeless, or expect that you will become homeless, call Stirling Council on 01786 404040.

If you have nowhere to stay, we’ll provide emergency accommodation at once and a homeless interview the same day, or the next working day if it’s after office hours. Temporary emergency accommodation will usually be a bed and breakfast or similar.

If you have somewhere to stay temporarily, we will offer you a homeless interview within three working days.

The assessment process

There are three stages to the process:

1. we will need to establish whether you are homeless, or threatened with homelessness within the next two months
2. we will check to make sure that you did not become homeless through your own actions

To be considered homeless, your circumstances must meet one or more of these conditions. You:

• have no accommodation that you are legally entitled to occupy
• cannot reasonably live in your accommodation
• cannot gain entry to your accommodation
• face violence or harassment
• do not have permission to stay in a home, or family or friends you have been staying with have asked you to leave
• live in a place like a houseboat or a caravan, and there is nowhere for you to place it and live in it
• are going to lose your accommodation within two months

We can tell you more about the assessment process when you contact us. We aim to make a decision within 28 days and will write to you to let you know the outcome.

We will normally offer you temporary accommodation while your case is investigated. Pregnant women and households with children will be offered bed and breakfast accommodation as a last resort, and for as short a period as possible.

You will have to pay for temporary accommodation. We can help you make a Housing Benefit claim if you already receive welfare benefits or may be entitled to them.

If the assessment confirms you are homeless, Stirling Council will provide you with permanent accommodation.

This is not a quick process – it can take months or even years before we’re able to make you an offer of housing. In the meantime, we will continue to provide you with temporary accommodation until you are rehoused.

To try and provide you with permanent housing as quickly as possible, we will help you to apply for housing with local housing associations, and the offer of permanent housing we make you can be with a housing association as well as the Council.

If the assessment confirms that you are homeless, Stirling Council will only make you one reasonable offer of permanent accommodation. This means that the home you’re offered will be a size you need (in line with our Allocation Policy) and will be in any of the homeless grouping areas that you’ve chosen to consider housing in. If you need wheelchair accessible or ground floor accommodation, then the offer will meet your medical need. The offer can be any type of home (for instance a flat, maisonette, bedsit or house.

If you do not believe the offer you’ve been made is reasonable, you can ask for a review of this. You must do this within 21 days of receiving the offer.

If you refuse one reasonable offer of housing, while we will continue to offer you advice and assistance to try and find you a permanent home, we will have discharged our duty to provide you with permanent accommodation. This means you won’t be made further offers of housing due to your homelessness, and while we will give you a reasonable opportunity as well as support, to secure permanent housing, we won’t continue to provide you with temporary accommodation.

Temporary accommodation is a place where people and families can go if they become homeless. It is a safe place where we will support you and help you decide what to do next.

Supporting you

We provide a voluntary support service to help you with practical advice and information. Our staff will work with you to help you feel in control of your own life and your own decisions.

We know that you may feel frightened sometimes. But our experience shows you can grow to feel happy and have things to look forward to that you have decided for yourself.

If we can't answer all your questions or provide you with all the help and support you need, we will refer you to an appropriate agency that will be able to help.

Supporting your children

It’s only natural to be concerned about taking your children away from their home to somewhere they don't know. Our Officers will signpost you to Healthcare Services, schools and libraries within your area.

Stirling Housing First is part of a Scotland-wide programme. It supports the Scottish government’s aim to eliminate rough sleeping by supporting people whose homelessness is made harder by experiences such as trauma, addiction and mental health problems.

Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan 2023

Benefits and support

The service places homeless people directly into independent tenancies in Stirling with no need to progress through temporary housing. By having a permanent tenancy in Stirling, they are in a better position to access community support, health care and social benefits.

The support offered includes advice on tenancy management, budgeting, personal safety, cooking and food shopping. Support workers who have had similar personal experiences will also work with residents to encourage trust, friendship and engagement with local recovery services.