Please be advised that as a result of the closure of the Civic Office in line with the social distancing advice from the government, we are changing the way we are delivering our service. Therefore please be aware of the following:
Our Homelessness Prevention Teams and Tenancy Sustainment Team will still be operating their essential services, however the Civic Offices will not be open for face to face appointments
We will no longer be home visiting, unless this is considered an essential visit
If we consider the visit to be essential you will be asked screening questions prior to the visit taking place, and as a result this may change to a different format of communication
If you are at risk of becoming homeless and would like some advice please contact 0118 9372165 to discuss, or email less urgent enquiries to housing.advice@reading.go.uk
If you have an appointment booked with one of the Homeless Prevention Officers this will still go ahead on the phone. You will receive a call at the time of your booked appointment. Please ensure you have your phone charged, and if possible you are in a private area to receive the call and to discuss your housing needs. If this is not possible, please call 0118 937 2165 and leave a message with your name, number and enquiry and you will receive a call back before the end of the day. Alternatively, you can email the team at housing.advice@reading.gov.uk. If you have the direct dial number of the Officer you were due to see, call them on the number provided.
If you already have an allocated Officer please contact them directly on their direct dial number which should have been provided to you
If you would like to provide any supporting information, or you are requested to provide documents during this time we will accept a photo or scanned copy of the document, which can be emailed to us at housing.advice@reading.gov.uk – please be advised that this will need to clear and legible
Any correspondence that we are required to send to you will be sent via email
If you call our main Housing Advice number, 0118 9372165 you will only have the facility to leave a message, however the answerphone will be regularly checked throughout the day and you will receive a call back the same day if your message is left before 4pm.