Commentary on Sections Part 2 Homelessness Section 55 - Meaning of homeless and threatened homelessness
117.A person is homeless if they have no accommodation available to them that they have a lawful right to occupy. Such a right includes restrictions on someone else’s ability to recover possession of the accommodation. If a person does have a home, but cannot gain entry to it, they are also homeless. If a person’s home is moveable, such as a caravan or houseboat, but there is nowhere they can place it and live in it, they are also homeless.
118.Someone is considered to have accommodation only if it is reasonable for them to continue to occupy it (section 57 refers). A person is threatened with homelessness if it is likely that he or she will become homeless within 56 days.