Housing and homelessness
Risk of homelessness
If you are homeless or worried about becoming homeless, contact the Housing Inclusion team as soon as you can.
We can help by:
- helping you avoid being evicted by a private landlord
- negotiating with your lender if you're a homeowner
- advising you on finding somewhere else to live
Speak to us if you are worried about homelessness.
Help with council tax
You could get help with paying your council tax if:
- you are on a low income or
- you live alone or share your home with someone who is not your partner and who cannot help you pay rent or council tax
Get help with paying your council tax.
Help for people living in detention
If you are living in detention in the UK, you might be able to get a council tax discount.
Get reduced council tax after leaving detention.
Help through the Breathing Space scheme
You could get help through a scheme called Breathing Space. The scheme helps people struggling with rent and mortgage arrears, including delaying eviction or mortgage repossession, freezing payment demands and legal action, while you get free debt advice.
Speak to a debt advisor for more information about Breathing Space.
Help with your mortgage
If you’re struggling to pay your mortgage or are already behind on your payments, you can take steps to avoid losing your home.
- talk to an experienced advisor
- talk to your lender to discuss options including temporary payment arrangements, lengthening the term of your mortgage and switching temporarily to interest-only repayments
- look at your monthly budget to see if you can make cuts to your costs [link to Budget Planner | Free online budget planning tool | MoneyHelper]
- the charity Shelter has more advice on how to deal with mortgage payments and arrears
Help with rent
If you are struggling to pay your rent, contact us. We can help negotiate with your landlord to avoid eviction if you have rent arrears.
Contact the Housing Inclusion Team.
Find out more about help with private rent arrears.
Greenwich Winter Night Shelter
Greenwich Winter Night Shelter offers shelter, support and advocacy for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The night shelter runs between October and March and the Day Centre is a year-round service.
Staff are on hand to support through its drop-in service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 9am and 1pm. Pets are welcome.
Find out more about referring someone or getting help.
Get help if you're losing your home
We may be able to help prevent you from losing your home.
If you cannot keep your home, we can help you find a new home.
If you’ve already lost your home, get help if you have nowhere to stay tonight.