If you apply for help with housing, we may need to check what kind of connection you have to Cambridge.
If you’re registering with Home-Link see the first section below.
If you are homeless, need hostel accommodation, or are interested in the Single Homelessness Service, see the second section below.
Homeless applicants/Home-Link register
If you're making a homeless application and/or you wish to join the Home-Link housing register, we'll look at your local connection to Cambridge.
Local connection is about your links with Cambridge. If you fall into one of the following categories, you have a local connection to the city:
- You've lived in Cambridge city for six of the last 12 months, or three of the last five years
- You're employed in the city
- You have immediate family in Cambridge city (parent, sibling or adult children) who have lived in the area for at least five years. They must have been aged over 18 for their five years of residency.
- You've special circumstances at the discretion of the local authority - speak to a housing advisor to find out more.
If you are threatened with homelessness
If you are threatened with homelessness within the next 56 days, you can ask any local housing authority in England for help.
If we accept that you are eligible for assistance and are threatened with homelessness, we can also accept an application to our housing register through Home-Link.
However, if you do not have a local connection to Cambridge, you will be given a lower priority than applicants with a local connection. You will be given a ‘band C’ rating, and will be overlooked in favour of other applicants with a band C who are locally connected to Cambridge.
As a person threatened with homelessness, you are likely to attract greater priority if you apply to another authority with which you do have a connection.
If you are homeless now
If you are homeless now, but you do not have a local connection to Cambridge, we might refer you to another authority where you do have a local connection.
If that other authority accepts the referral, they will offer you assistance to relieve your homelessness.
Accessing hostels and the Single Homelessness Service
If you have a local connection to South Cambridgeshire or Huntingdonshire district councils you might be able to access hostels in the city on an equal basis with people connected to Cambridge. This is separate from the Home-Link housing register. You might also be eligible for our single homelessness service.
Contact our housing advice service or street outreach team for further information on hostels and the single homelessness service.
If you do not have a connection to one of these councils, we’ll try to help you to return to an area where you can get accommodation and support, if it’s safe to do so.
Our reconnection policy [PDF, 0.3MB] explains the local connection rules for supported housing and the Single Homelessness Service.
