Homelessness
The Housing Advice Unit at Waltham Forest Housing Services gives free advice on housing matters to all residents within the borough.
If you think you may become homeless, you should get advice as soon as possible. You can do this by contacting the Housing Advice Unit. You may also choose to contact an independent agency or a solicitor specialising in housing.
When you seek advice, you should take any documentation that is relevant to your situation. For example, your original tenancy agreement, court papers, correspondence from your landlord, housing benefit, or solicitor. Even if you do not have any papers, you should still get advice straightaway.
It is important to remember that the laws concerning housing are very complicated. The information here cannot explain everything; it is intended to provide a guide to give you an idea of what to expect.
The leaflet below gives some details about how the Council deals with applications for housing from people who are homeless, or soon to become homeless. It includes information about :
- how the Council can help you to keep your home
- how to get help if you do become homeless
- who is eligible for housing
- what sort of accommodation you may get if you are homeless
- what to do if you disagree with the Council's decision about your homelessness application
If you are worried about homelessness, please download our leaflet 'Worried about homelessness - how we can help' (591KB PDF file)
Leaflets online
There is a full range of Housing Services leaflets and forms available here.
These leaflets are all available free of charge, by downloading from this website, by post or in person from our office.
Rent Deposit Schemes
The Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme and Self Help Scheme have been developed by Waltham Forest Housing Services to help households find private rented accommodation if they have become, or are about to become, homeless through no fault of their own. The schemes help clients of Housing Services who cannot access private rented accommodation. Find out more
Emergency contact number
If you have an emergency outside office hours, such as domestic violence, that means you are not safe to stay in your home, please call 020 8496 3000.
Contact us
Cedar Wood House
2d Fulbourne Road
Walthamstow E17 4GG (map)
Tel: 020 8496 3000
Fax: 020 8496 5431
Opening hours
9am-4.30pm Monday to Thursday
10am-4.30pm Friday
Our office is located on Fulbourne Road.
If you need help with spoken or written English, let us know and we can provide interpreters and/or translated information - for example if English is not your first language, or if you have sight and/or hearing disabilities.
Cedar Wood House is fully accessible for people with mobility disabilities, including wheelchair users, with ramped/level access, wide doors, and fully accessible toilets. There is also an Induction Loop for hearing aid users.
Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Urdu
Open to personal callers: Monday -Thursday, 9am-4.30pm; Fridays 10am-4.30pm
Telephone enquiries: 020 8496 5575, Monday -Thursday 9am-5.15pm; Friday 9am-5pm
