The original duties to homeless people were placed on local authorities by the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. In Northern Ireland these duties were placed on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) by the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988. The current laws around homelessness are set out in the Housing Act 1996, the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, the Housing (Wales) 2014 and the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988, each of which has been amended by subsequent legislation. But despite the separate development in the law of each country since then, there are still parts of the original legislation the remain common to each of the countries (albeit now re-codified in separate acts and orders).
As homelessness extends to more than just those rough sleeping, it’s important to understand the crossover that homelessness has on other tenancy related matters such as domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour and safeguarding policies too.
You can read more about the legislation and different requirements for housing providers and those in the sector below. Throughout this guide references to the ‘authority’ or ‘housing authority’ means in Great Britain the relevant local authority on which the responsibility for homeless persons falls, or in Northern Ireland, the Housing Executive.
