Housing advice for people leaving prison

Help available from the housing solutions team if you are single and homeless in these circumstances

This advice is for people who have recently been released from prison or are currently in prison and will be homeless on release.

If you apply to Ealing Council housing options for housing assistance because you are homeless in these circumstances, we will not necessarily be legally obliged to provide you with any accommodation.

However, we will have a duty to assess the circumstances of your homelessness, identify what your housing and support needs are, and to work with you to try to prevent your homelessness or support you to find you somewhere to live. We will provide you with a personal housing plan which will tell you what we can do to help you and what you can do to help yourself.

This might include actions such as attending appointments with our employment and skills team or engaging with organisations that can assist ex-offenders.

For Ealing Council to be legally obliged to provide you with accommodation, we would need to be satisfied that you are eligible, homeless, in priority need and that you have not made yourself intentionally homeless.

When we are considering whether we have a duty to offer you accommodation will take into account the length of time you were in prison, even if it has been some time since you were released.

We will also look at whether you:

  • have a mental illness
  • have a learning disability or physical disability
  • have ever been in care
  • have been in the armed forces
  • are fleeing violence or threats of violence
  • you are vulnerable for any other reason.

The best way to get advice is to come in person to Ealing Council at Perceval House, 14/16 Uxbridge Road, Ealing, W5 2HL between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

We will either give you advice on the day you visit us, or after making an initial assessment of your circumstances, will make an appointment for you to see an advisor at a later date.

Please note that Perceval House opens at 10am on the second Wednesday of each month.