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Housing Advice and Options

This page provides information about a range of housing options and advice.

From 1 April 2010, Welwyn Hatfield Community Housing Trust took over management of the housing options and homelessness service on behalf of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.

Housing Advice

Our Housing Advisors can give advice and information on a range of options if you are searching for a home.  We can also give general advice to households who are risk of losing their home because of money problems or for other reasons.  Our Housing Advisors works in partnership with other agencies who can provide one-to-one debt advice or other support to help people stay in their homes. 

The type of advice and help we can give includes:

• private rented accommodation
• affordable home ownership
• mutual exchange 
• hostels and refuges 
• Rent deposit scheme 
• mortgage rescue scheme
• Sanctuary scheme
• advice on Housing Benefit
• house/flat sharing
• housing schemes for young people and those with specific needs.
• applying to join the council's Housing Needs Register

Contact the Housing Advice team

We aim to prevent homelessness wherever possible, and work with a number of agencies like the YMCA and Herts Young Homeless to help achieve this.

Please contact us as soon as possible if you are at risk of becoming homeless.

We have a much better chance of being able to help you, or find you other accommodation, if you contact us early on.

If we cannot prevent you from becoming homeless, we may have a duty to help you find somewhere to live. However, the rules for this are very specific and it is best to speak with a member of the Housing Advice team for advice.

Homelessness Strategy and Action Plan

With Welwyn Hatfield Council we have put together a strategy [283KB] and action plan [174KB] setting out our key priorities for preventing and managing homelessness within the borough from 2008 to 2013.

How to contact us

Our Housing Advice team is based at the Welwyn Garden City Housing Office. You can visit the office, or telephone 01707 357613 during office hours.

We also run an out-of-hours service for emergency situations that cannot wait until the office is open. In an emergency call 0800 111 4484. 

Our Service Standards

We have agreed standards for our services relating to housing advice and options, which are reviewed each year.  You can download our  service standard leaflet [719KB] here. If you would like to get involved in the review process please contact the Housing Advice team.