Housing help eligibility

 You will be assessed as being in Priority Need if:  

• You have a dependent child or children living with you, that is those under 16 or under 19 if in full-time education
• You or someone living with you are pregnant
• You or someone living with you are vulnerable due to old age, mentally handicapped, physically or mentally disabled.
• You are a person who is vulnerable because you are fleeing a violent partner or threat of violence within your community
• You are a young person aged 16 or 17
• You are a person who is vulnerable as a result of spending time in the armed forces, serving a prison sentence or due to a care background
• You have become homeless due to an emergency for example fire flood or other disaster

Note the term vulnerable was defined in a housing related case heard in Court and is referred to as the 'Pereira test'. This case established that to be accepted as vulnerable due to health "the person is, when homeless, less able to fend for himself than an ordinary homeless person so that injury or detriment to him will result when a less vulnerable person would be able to cope without harmful effect".

An example might be where someone is suffering from depression, which under the Pereira Test might not be deemed as 'in priority need' because of vulnerability.