Living in temporary accommodation

Last year, there were over 6,700 applicants for social housing in the Royal Borough and only 556 properties to let.

We do not have enough properties to house everyone who is in housing need, and therefore we have to put some households into temporary accommodation. It is often difficult to find suitable accommodation in the Kensington and Chelsea area, which means we also have to find properties for applicants in other parts of London. Not everyone will be offered temporary accommodation.

There are different types of temporary accommodation. Your personal circumstances and/or the size of your household may affect the type of accommodation allocated to you.

The duty officer or your allocated housing adviser will decide whether or not an offer of temporary accommodation can be made to you. The Council can only offer the accommodation it has available.

If you are being placed into temporary accommodation you will be asked to sign an agreement which sets out the conditions of your booking. You must keep to the terms of the agreement, make sure that you pay your weekly charges and provide all the information needed to process your claim for housing benefit.

Anti-social behaviour, failure to pay charges or provide the information required to process a housing benefit claim may result in you having to leave your temporary accommodation. You will be liable for any costs not met by housing benefit. We provide support services for people in temporary accommodation and you can contact us if you think this would be of benefit to you.

If you are homeless and living in temporary accommodation provided by the Council, we do expect you to bid for properties.  If you do not actively bid, you may be made a direct offer.

You can also look at the moving home section, which has some options which might be of interest to you.