Priority Need
A category under Part VII Housing Act 1996 that determines whether a homeless person is owed the main housing duty. Categories include pregnant women, families with dependent children, and vulnerable persons.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Section 189 of the Housing Act 1996 sets out who has a priority need for accommodation for the purposes of the homelessness duties in Part 7 of the Act. The categories include a pregnant woman, or a person with whom she resides or might reasonably be expected to reside; a person with whom dependent children reside or might reasonably be expected to reside; and a person who is vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness, handicap, physical disability or other special reason, or with whom such a person resides or might reasonably be expected to reside.
The Secretary of State also has power by order to specify further descriptions of people as having a priority need for accommodation, which has been used to extend priority need to categories such as 16- and 17-year-olds and care leavers. Whether an applicant has a priority need affects the extent of the housing duty a local authority owes them if they are found to be homeless and eligible for assistance.
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Official sources
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