housing

Cheltenham Community Projects

01242 228999

Cheltenham Youth Information Shop

01242 578578

Cheltenham & District Housing Association

01242 530053

Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre

01242 226672

Cirencester Housing for Young People

01285 644900

Glofysh

Support, Advice and Advocacy Service for Young People Gloucester: 01452 381650

Gloucester Youth Housing Association

01452 505350

You may have nowhere to sleep tonight. Even in this situation you can still get help. There is some emergency accommodation available, but it can be hard to get. See the end of this chapter for useful numbers to call in this situation.

The first thing you can try if you have nowhere to stay tonight is to find out if you can stay with friends or relations or family until you can sort things out. This can be the best option as you'll be staying with people you know and having a roof over your head is a lot better than sleeping rough. If they can't help, or it's only temporary, look at the options below.

It's the most popular way of getting your own place. So, how do you go about it?

Finding a place:

Word of mouth

Ask friends or relatives if they know of anywhere. A friend of a friend of a friend will often know about a place that someone is just about to move out of.

Shop windows, the local paper and magazines

A lot of people advertise vacancies in shop windows or in local newspapers and magazines. Notice boards in supermarkets and colleges are worth a look too. So check all these regularly.

Accommodation agencies

There are lots of accommodation agencies and estate agents around the country that have lists of places to rent. Be careful, it is illegal for them to charge you anything unless they actually find you a place and you take it. They are the most expensive option. Check with your local housing advice agency - for example CHAC (Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre) who keep an up to date register of properties available and whether the landlord will accept benefits/deposit bond.

If you decide to leave home, take time to get organised. You need time to plan and prepare - the more time you can spend getting prepared, the better. Leaving home means thinking about how much rent you can pay, whether you have enough money to pay for a deposit and/or rent in advance.

If you don't have much money there may be help - search for Paying the Rent. And remember, landlords like references from your school, college, support worker or employer.

It can be difficult finding somewhere to live - what you'll end up with isn't necessarily what you were originally hoping for, but you could start to look for better housing once you have settled. You can get advice from a Citizens' Advice Bureau (www.adviceguide.org.uk), your local Council or a local youth advice centre. But here's a quick run through of the various options that you'll face once you've decided to leave home.

Think about what is important to you and look through this list to see how practical it is to leave.

• Do you know how to find somewhere to live?
• Are you up for doing your own washing and ironing?
• Can you name 5 people you will be able to keep in touch with after you leave home?
• Have you enough money for a deposit and the first month's rent?
• Do you know how to claim benefits if you need help to pay the rent?
• Do you know what furniture you will need to get?
• Would you move to an area away from your friends and family?
• Will you know where to get help or support if you need it?
• If you have a pet would a landlord let you keep it?
• If you do get a place do you know anything about your rights?

A few more things...

• How much rent can you afford?
• After the rent, how much will you have to pay for food, gas, electricity, phone, TV licence fee and Council tax?
• How much money will you have to spend on furniture, TV, cookers etc?
• Do you want to live alone or share with others?
• Who will do your cooking?
• Where will you do your washing?

Finally, is there anything else you can think you would need to sort out?