Connected Homeless Helper

Connected Homeless is a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1172896. This app is for the people we work with, and everything in it is free.

NOT A GOVERNMENT SERVICE

Connected Homeless is an independent charity. This app is not a government service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any council, government department or public body. Where it explains rules, it is explaining published government information, and the official sources are listed at the bottom of this description.

A HELPER THAT REMEMBERS YOU

Talk to your helper by typing or out loud, day or night. Give it a name and it is yours. Tell it something once and it remembers: where you are staying, what work you have done, what you are waiting on. Weeks later it can pick up where you left off instead of starting again from nothing.

It can talk you through published government guidance on homelessness in England: how councils are meant to handle a homelessness application, what terms like priority need and local connection mean, and what people often say at a housing options desk. It can talk about benefits you may be able to claim with no fixed address.

It gives information and points you to the people who give advice. It is not a solicitor, an adviser or a doctor, and it will say so and give you Shelter's number when something needs proper advice.

MAKING SENSE OF A LETTER

Show it a letter by taking a photograph of it, and it will talk you through what the letter says and what the deadline is. Ask it to help you draft a reply.

PLANS THAT DO NOT GET LOST

Getting off the street is usually a sequence: ID before a bank account before a job. Your helper can write that sequence down as a plan you tick off, and bring it up again in a later conversation.

WHAT IS OPEN NEAR YOU

A directory of food banks, shelters and day centres, with what the record says about getting in listed before the address.

YOUR WALLET

Points given by the charity, spent in shops that have joined the scheme. A pound is a hundred points.

PRIVATE

Charity staff do not read your conversations. You can see everything the helper has noted about you and delete any of it, and you can make it forget everything without asking anybody. There is one exception, and the app tells you about it the first time you use it: if you say something that suggests you are in danger, it raises a flag so a person can check you are alright.

OFFICIAL SOURCES

The government information in this app comes from these published sources, and you can read them yourself:

Homelessness help from your council: https://www.gov.uk/homelessness-help-from-council
Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities
Housing Act 1996, Part VII: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/52/part/VII
Universal Credit: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit
Applying for council housing: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-council-housing
Registering with a GP surgery: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/gps/how-to-register-with-a-gp-surgery/

You need a member number from Connected Homeless to sign in. If you are working with us, ask any volunteer.

Privacy policy: https://connected-homeless.vercel.app/privacy