Homeless London: What advice and support services are included?

As well as hostels and accommodation projects, there are various non-residential advice and support services that specifically serve homeless people and offer help. There are also many other services, which whilst not specifically for homeless people, can also give you advice on homelessness and related matters.

Specialist services for homeless people

Homeless London contains details of the following kinds of services set up specifically for homeless people. Click on the link to the document attached below for an overview of these types of services:

• Advice and information
• Day centres and practical help
• Outreach
• Employment, training and peer education
• Resettlement, floating support and tenancy support
• Rent deposit schemes
• Furniture projects
• Alcohol, drugs, health and mental health
• Befriending and counseling
• Advocacy and mediation

Non-specialist services

In addition to the specialist services for homeless people above, there are many other services listed on Homeless London that homeless people may need:

• Citizens Advice Bureaux, independent advice services and law centres
• Advice and information services around alcohol, drugs, mental health and health, including PALS/ICAS and NHS Walk-ins
• Telephone helplines and Samaritans offices
• Advice services around domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape
• Key access points to advice for particular client groups (eg women, lesbians and gay men, black and minority ethnic groups, refugees, young people, older people and families).
• Jobcentre plus network offices
• Probation and Social Services Departments
• Key signposting services for people with disabilities or learning difficulties

You can find details of all the above specialist and non-specialist services in Homeless London by clicking on the Find a service tab at the top of the screen and selecting Search all services from the sub menu. You can then click on the Service drop down and choose the kind of service you are looking for.

To search for particular types of specialist service, you can select, for example, Homeless Advice. Alternatively, you can click on the Person drop down and choose Homeless people. To search for non-specialist services, click on the Service drop down and then select the service you are looking for eg Citizens Advice Bureau or Jobcentre Plus. Alternatively you can click on the Person drop down and choose the target group you are looking for eg People with alcohol problems.

If in doubt about which type of service to contact, it is probably best to contact you nearest homeless advice service or Citizens Advice Bureau.