Homelessness appeals process guide

Who can ask for an appeal

To ask us to look at a housing offer again, you need to:

1. Be a homelessness applicant: you should have applied for homelessness assistance and received a decision from Gateshead Council.

2. Have a decision letter: you would have received a formal decision from us about your homelessness application. This letter would have included your eligibility and housing offer, and it would have told you about being able to ask for a review of the decision.

3. Be quick: you have 21 days from the date our letter was sent out to ask for an appeal.

4. Have a good reason: your reasons for appeal could include:

• not being close to family or friends
• not the right size for your family
• not suitable due to a medical condition
• risk to safety or experiencing antisocial behaviour
• not affordable for you
• too far from or difficult to get to school or college
• too far from or difficult to get to work
• too far from or difficult to get medical treatment
• not in a good condition

5. Send us the right information: you need to send us all the important information that will help support your case for an appeal.

How to appeal

Request an appeal within 21 days of getting your decision letter.

If you miss the 21-day deadline, you must explain why and give us proof. We will only look at the late request if there is a special reason.

Not knowing you could ask for an appeal or not knowing the deadline are not acceptable reasons for being late.

Appeal your homelessness decision

What we need from you

For us to look at your appeal properly, you will need to provide the information we ask for. We will only ask you to tell us about things that relate to your reason for making an appeal. For example, if your reason for appeal is that the property is too small, we will need to ask you about all the people who live with you to decide if you are overcrowded. But if your reason for appeal is that the property is not in a good condition, we will not need to know about the other people in your household. If you tell us about other people who help you, we will contact them to make sure they agree with what you have told us.

Understanding the appeal process

Here's a simple guide to each step of the appeal process:

Start your appeal

If you want to appeal, you need to do it within 21 days of getting your decision letter.

Late submissions

If you request an appeal more than 21 days after getting your decision letter, we will check if you have sent us a valid reason within three working days of receiving your form.

Receiving your appeal

We will send a letter within two working days to say we have received your appeal request. The letter will tell you who your independent review officer is and invite you for a chat about your case. We will aim to finish your review within 56 days.

Independent check

Our independent review officer looks at your appeal. This person was not involved in your housing application or any other decisions. They follow special rules from the GOV.UK homelessness code of guidance for local authorities (opens new window). They'll decide and write a report explaining everything within 10 working days of getting all the information.

Regular updates

We send you updates on the status of your appeal every 14 days, using your preferred method of contact.

Making the decision

Our independent review officer decides what happens with your appeal while following any rules and guidance we have. Your review can end in three different ways:

• Withdrawn: this means your appeal stops. It could be because we did not get enough information from you, you found a home while we were reviewing, or you asked to stop the appeal
• Dismissed: if the appeal doesn't go your way, the first home offer we make still stands, and we will not make you another offer
• Upheld: if we agree the first home offer was not right, we will offer you a different home

Telling you what we decide

Your case and appeal decision is checked by our service manager before we send you a letter clearly explaining our decision and why we made it.

If you do not agree with our decision

You can ask for another appeal through the county court. However, this can only happen if there a lawful mistake.

Please note: we prioritise appeals by the date we receive them. Appeals including temporary accommodation will receive priority in this list. Our goal is to be fair while completing your appeal in the fastest time possible.

Being offered a home

If you have requested an appeal of a housing offer, we recommend that you still accept the offer. If you say no and the appeal does not go in your favour, you will not get another offer. It is commonly believed that you will get three housing offers but this is not true. If you accept the offer and still decide to appeal, it will not affect the outcome of the appeal.

Not every property with Gateshead Council is for those facing homelessness. We will offer homes that we think best fit your needs, but we only set aside a certain number of properties for homelessness. Due to availability of different property types and locations, you might not get your preferred option. You should be ready to consider suitable homes across the borough. Before any offer, we check if it's right for your needs. We try to offer the best match to avoid the need for an appeal.

Gateshead Council can also use automatic bidding and direct allocations.

With automatic bidding, we will place bids for you on homes that meet your needs. This can be helpful if you are in temporary housing or facing homelessness. This helps make sure you don't miss out on homes that become available.

In some urgent or specific cases, we can also use direct allocations. We can offer you a property directly instead of going through the usual bidding process.

Extra help

These organisations can help you with your appeal

• Citizens Advice: they are experts with housing laws and will help you with submitting your appeal. Visit Citizens Advice Gateshead (opens new window) or call them at 0808 278 7902.
• Shelter: they are a national organisation that give legal advice and help. Visit the Shelter website (opens new window) or call 0808 800 4444.

Remember to have all your documents ready when you talk to them.

These organisations can help you if you're stressed or worried

• Gateshead Talking Therapies: they offer talking therapy for stress and worry. You can ask to see them yourself or through your doctor. Visit the Gateshead Talking Therapies website (opens new window) or call 0191 283 2541
• Tyneside Mind: they have lots of ways to help you feel better, like talking groups and one-on-one counselling. To learn more, visit the Tyneside Mind website (opens new window) or call 0191 477 4545.
• Peer Talk: join groups where people talk about what they are going through and how to get through it. Find out more on the Peer Talk website (opens new window) or call 07719 562 617.

Tell us what you think

After your housing appeal is done, we will send you a survey for a chance to tell us what you thought about your experience. Your feedback helps us to improve our process, train our team more and update our website.