

Birmingham City Council

Temporary accommodation

Temporary Accommodation

If you are homeless as defined by legislation, and have nowhere to stay, and you have been accepted as in priority need, or we think you may have priority need, we may provide you with temporary accommodation. For more information about this, see our page giving that contains information for homeless people.

We are available to assess for and provide temporary accommodation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

You can access this service through our four customer service centres that also include a housing advice service. Please check the opening times before making an appointment.

Outside of the opening hours, including at weekends, there is always an officer available to assist with arranging temporary accommodation where you have or we think you are eligible for assistance, homeless and have a priority need.

There are four circumstances where this may happen:

  1. We have not yet made a decision on your homeless application
  2. We have accepted a duty to rehouse you but do not have any suitable accommodation to offer immediately
  3. We have decided that you became homeless intentionally. In these circumstances temporary accommodation will be provided for a reasonable period
  4. We have decided that you do not have a local connection with Birmingham, and are waiting for the outcome of a referral to another local authority.
Even if we do not have a duty to you we will still offer you advice and ways to help you resolve your housing situation.

Where will my temporary accommodation be located?

Due to the high demand for temporary accommodation we could place you anywhere in the city. However, you will have the opportunity to tell us about the type of accommodation you require and any relevant circumstances, for example place of work or location of schools. This will be taken into account when we allocate temporary accommodation.

If you lose the accommodation through your own fault, for example, by failing to pay appropriate charges or failing to stay in the provided accommodation, we may discharge our duty to you. This means that we will not provide you with any further temporary accommodation, and we may not have a duty to assist you with finding permanent.

In some instances, if you are heavily pregnant or disabled we can provide transport to your allocated temporary accommodation. However, if you fall outside of this criteria you will be expected to make your own travel arrangements.

In some instances, we can provide bus tickets for use on West Midlands Travel Buses. These are available from customer service centres or Temporary Accommodation providers. They are issued at the discretion of the Temporary Accommodation Team and can be used to assist you and your family to your temporary accommodation or to attend your homeless interview.

What if I refuse the temporary accommodation?

If you refuse the temporary accommodation without a valid reason, we will not provide any other accommodation, and you will have to make your own arrangements. However, we will continue to assess your homeless application until we have decided what duties (if any) we owe you.

If you make your own arrangements for temporary accommodation, you must provide your contact details to your Homeless Officer. If you do not, and as a result you do not receive information of an offer, the city council will have discharged its duty to you. If your temporary address is different to the address you were staying at when you made your homeless application, you will also need to complete a housing application form.

Protection of property

If you have furniture and other such items and you are unable to store them, the city council will arrange storage of your furniture for you. However, we charge for this service. Arrangements can be made for you to pay for the storage charges weekly.

If you do not repay the storage charges, these are classed as housing debt and may affect your ability to obtain social housing in the future.