Homeless decision
During the prevention and relief duty periods, your caseworker will investigate whether you are owed a rehousing duty. This is also sometimes known as a main duty. This is the third and final step of your homeless application unless you ask for a review of your caseworker's decision.
If you are still homeless after 56 days of the relief duty period, then we will issue you with a final homeless decision. This will determine whether the council will continue to help rehome you.
This will depend on whether you:
- are still eligible for housing help
- remain homeless
- are in priority need
- are unintentionally homeless
- have a local connection to our district
This decision will be given within 15 working days.
How we reach this decision
To determine if we owe you a rehousing duty, your caseworker must apply the homelessness tests to your case.
These tests are:
- that you are still eligible for rehousing
- that you are still homeless
- that you are in priority need of housing
- that you are homeless by no fault of your own
- that you have a local connection to Birmingham
The council will only owe you a rehousing duty if you pass all 5 tests. If you fail one of the tests, the tests will not continue any further, and you will not be owed a rehousing duty.
If you pass tests 1 to 4 but do not have a local connection to Birmingham, we will not owe you a rehousing duty. Instead, another local authority which you do have a local connection to, will owe you a rehousing duty.
Page last updated: 18 July 2023
