Whilst we hope the information on this page is useful and helps homeless people better access their rights – it is no substitute for legal advice.

If you are in Greater Manchester and need advice about your rights as a homeless person, or help to enforce them please contact us:

Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC)

669 Stockport Road
Longsight
Manchester
M12 4QE

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 9am-5pm
New or general enquiries: Monday to Thursday 10am-3pm
Fridays for appointments only

Contact information

Phone 0161 769 2244
Email reception@gmlaw.org.uk

On our Contact page, you will find a map with location of our premises and travel information.

If we cannot help you with your problem we will try to give you more information and refer you to an organisation who can.

Homelessness in Greater Manchester

Homelessness in Greater Manchester has quadrupled over the last 10 years. Over the last few years, Manchester has consistently been one of the worst affected cities for homelessness in the UK.

Hundreds of people are sleeping rough, thousands of people are homeless or living in unsafe housing conditions, and hundreds of thousands are on the housing register waiting for an affordable and stable home.

There are lots of fantastic organisations in Greater Manchester working tirelessly to help homeless people, and Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC) supports them 100%.

However, we believe that homeless people don’t just deserve charity, they deserve justice. To achieve justice, basic rights – such as the right to shelter, and to be free of discrimination – need to be won and enforced. Lawyers should be ready to step in when those rights are not respected.

As a result of the nationwide housing crisis, cuts to government spending and the savage reduction in Council funding, too often homeless people seeking help are turned away by organisations that have a legal duty to help.

At GMLC, our contribution to ending homelessness in Greater Manchester is to ensure that homeless people and their supporters have the legal tools to know and fight for their rights.

We are also keen to work with frontline organisations and services battling homelessness. If you work or volunteer for an organisation fighting homelessness, please get in touch to see if we could work together.

On this page you find resources we hope will be beneficial for both organisations and individuals.
They are intended to be used and shared freely by both individuals and organisations.

Help from the Council’s Homelessness Department

Below you will find:
  1. detailed advice for people making a mainstream homelessness application and as well as for those who don’t qualify for assistance from the housing department but might be entitled to housing assistance from social services, asylum support or other sources.
  2. template applications that people or their supporters can fill in and take to the local authority when they ask for help. We hope using these template applications will help people prepare for the questions they are likely to be asked, make sure that full and accurate information is recorded and avoid the risk of the local authority being in any doubt about the assistance that is being requested.
  3. attached to the template applications are handheld records for people to take with them to the local authority and other advice agencies to keep a record of the dates and times they have attended and the information and advice that they have been given.
  • Advice for homeless people about rights to accommodation and assistance under the Housing Act 1996 R1:
    go to this web page | download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
    Please note, this advice page contains a Glossary for Key Terms and Legal Tests
  • Housing Act Homelessness Application A1 – Request for Help and Handheld Record:
    download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here

Help from the Council’s Social Services Department

  • Advice for homeless people with children about rights to accommodation and assistance under the Children Act 1989 R2:
    go to this web page | download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Children Act (Families) Application A2 – Request for Help and Handheld Record:
    download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Advice for homeless people 16 or 17-years-old or care leavers under 21 with information about rights to accommodation and assistance under the Children Act 1989 R3:
    go to this web page | download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Children Act (under 18 and Care Leavers) Application A3 – Request for Help and Handheld Record:
    download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Advice for homeless people with care needs, who have been detained by mental health services, or who have no other help available and need support to avoid a breach of their human rights or rights under EU law about rights to accommodation and assistance under the Care Act 2014, Mental Health Act 1983 or Localism Act 2011 R4:
    go to this web page | download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Care Act, Mental Health Act or Localism Act Application A4 – Request for Help and Handheld Record:
    download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Advice for homeless people who have been the victims of trafficking or modern slavery about rights to assistance from the National Referral Mechanism and the Council’s Homelessness or Social Services Department R5:
    go to this web page | download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here
  • Advice for homeless people who are asylum seekers or those whose claim for asylum has been refused about their right to asylum support and accommodation from the Home Office R6:
    go to this web page | download the MS Word file here | download a pdf here

If you want to check what type of homelessness support you may be entitled to, there is an easy-to-use online tool with links to lots of other useful information.

Go to the Support for Migrant Families website.

For information for private renters and social housing tenants, please click on the relevant icon:

Advice for Private Renters icon
Advice for social housing tenants icon