What is a housing emergency?
A housing emergency arises when someone has been, or is about to be, rendered unable to reside in their usual home and they do not have anywhere else they can safely go to.
Reasons for this can include being evicted, relationship breakdown, feeling unsafe due to abuse, severe damage to a property, or injury/illness preventing someone being able to access their home.
An imminent eviction is also an emergency and looks like a Possession Order or a Notice of Eviction issued by the County Court.
In any of the above instances a Report & Support should always be urgently submitted.
If a student has been issued an initial Section 8 Notice this should be referred to MHACA (Money, Housing and Childcare Advice) directly or via Student Support Centre.
Outside of the hours of 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday, students with nowhere to go should contact the local authority emergency duty number on 0121 303 2296.
What housing support is available at Birmingham City University?
Birmingham City University offers independent housing advice through MHACA, along with the Students’ Union, across all areas of housing including homelessness, local authority support, evictions and much more.
In the event of a homelessness concern being raised through Report & Support one of our Money, Housing and Childcare advisors will usually make contact to establish the circumstances and provide initial advice. In most instances an urgent appointment is booked with our Specialist Housing Advisor who will support the student and help them understand and access their options. This may include accessing student accommodation, presenting as homeless to their local authority and financial support options.
What external support is available to students?
Students with children/dependants should seek support from their Local Authority housing department in the first instance. External support and advice are available through charities such as Shelter and Crisis.
Local authorities should also offer support to students without children however, in practice, it is incredibly difficult to access without significant evidence of major medical or safety needs under ‘Priority Need’ as defined by Section 189 of the Housing Act 1996. Pregnancy and domestic abuse are examples of Priority Need criteria.
Students may become homeless once they graduate and leave student accommodation. It is important to note that residing in student accommodation does not grant a local connection to that area meaning students will usually be asked to contact their home local authority for homelessness support unless they have an overriding reason not to return such as domestic abuse. The MH&CA team can offer advice to students nearing the end of their course who are concerned about housing options post University.
The student’s local authority housing team should be contacted for advice in any instance of homelessness or risk of. In Birmingham, for under 25s, this service is operated by St Basil’s which is a short walk away from the Curzon building.
International students on student visas have no standard legal right to access public housing services whether they have children or not. If the student is homeless due to abuse, they may be able to access funded temporary housing via Southall Black Sisters. Students may also benefit from advice from Migrant Help if they are at risk of destitution.