The content of these webpages have been provided by external legal advisors Fieldfisher and Baker McKenzie. It has been made available to St Mungo’s staff and clients to help understanding of relevant areas of the law but is not a replacement for official legal advice and we are not legal advisors. Professional legal advice should always be sought for your own individual circumstances.
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Priority need is where certain people are given priority for access to accommodation over others. The relevant law on homelessness requires housing authorities to give priority to anyone that meets the definition of “priority need“.
If a person is already homeless, but does not have a local connection in the area where the homeless application is being submitted, that council can refer the applicant to a different council if the person has a local connection to another area; and
the person is not at risk of domestic abuse or violence there.
We appreciate that in many circumstances an application for accommodation may be refused by a local authority, and sometimes without good reason. The individual may feel that this decision was unfair and should be challenged.
We would love to get your feedback on the toolkit to let us know how we can improve it.