Homelessness—the meaning of the terms ‘homelessness’ and ‘threatened homelessness’

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Produced in partnership with Alexander Campbell of Cornerstone Barristers
Practice notes

Homelessness—the meaning of the terms ‘homelessness’ and ‘threatened homelessness’

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Alexander Campbell of Cornerstone Barristers

Practice notes
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Where a local housing authority (LHA) believes that a person is homeless or may be threatened with homelessness, it has a duty to make inquiries into their eligibility for homelessness assistance and into what housing duty (if any) is owed to them under the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996). For more information on the types of inquiries the LHA has to make, see Practice Note: Homelessness—planning services, strategies and reviews.

This Practice Note considers the definitions of the terms 'homelessness' and 'threatened with homelessness’ as set out in HA 1996, s 175.

HA 1996 was amended by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA 2017). Pursuant to the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (Commencement and Transitional and Savings Provisions) Regulations 2018, SI 2018/167, which were made on 8 February 2018, HRA 2017 came into force on 3 April 2018. Among other things, HRA 2017 amended the definition of ‘threatened with homelessness’ (see below).

The LHA’s duty

Under HA 1996, s 184 an LHA has a duty to make inquiries into a person’s circumstances

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Authority definition
What does Authority mean?

The public sector body procuring the project. This might, for example, be a local authority, an NHS trust, a central Government Department or a Non-Departmental Public Body.

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