The Hotel Fund pays for safe emergency accommodation to prevent homelessness among people with no recourse to public funds while refusals of local authority support are challenged.
Voluntary sector organisations and lawyers can make referrals to the project, which will
- Reimburse the organisation for the cost of emergency hotels, and
- Work with the organisation to challenge the practice that led to the initial refusal of support.
Summary guidelines are as follows:
- A referral can be made where a family or individual is refused statutory support under the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014, leaving them homeless or with no safe accommodation available
- The referring organisation completes a referral to Project 17 by 5pm on a working day.
- There must be at least a 50% chance of a successful legal challenge
- Up to 3 nights accommodation can be requested, whilst a legal representative is preparing a legal challenge
- Subject to approval by Project 17, the referring organisation books accommodation, and submits an invoice to Project 17 who will reimburse the costs of the accommodation
- After the case has been resolved, the referring organisation writes to the local authority/Home Office (template letter provided by Project 17) to complain about the incident of poor practice, and completes a brief monitoring questionnaire
Please ensure you read the full guidelines before making a referral. If you are unsure whether you are eligible to refer to the fund, please email [email protected] before taking the time to complete the form.
The referral form is here.