Westminster City Council (19 005 656)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 15-Aug-2019

Summary: The Council delayed in assessing Mr B’s application to go on the housing register. Its decisions on his eligibility and priority were unclear and this caused confusion and avoidable distress. The Council has already reviewed one of its decisions and decided Mr B has reasonable preference on medical grounds. It will also apologise for the avoidable distress to Mr B and decide whether to use discretion to accept him on to the housing register.

London Borough of Havering (18 017 703)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 31-Jul-2019

Summary: Miss B complains about the Council’s response to her request for housing help when she was made homeless. We find the Council did not meet its homelessness duties to Miss B. This caused Miss B distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to take a range of actions to put right the injustice Miss B suffered. We have completed our investigation.

Manchester City Council (19 004 470)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 31-Jul-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that although the Council has a homelessness budget of around £7,000,000, there are still people living on the streets. This is because he has not personally suffered significant enough injustice.

London Borough of Islington (18 017 664)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 31-Jul-2019

Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council has dealt with his homeless application and delays in providing advice and assistance. The Council’s failure to provide suitable temporary accommodation while it investigated Mr X’s homeless application amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

London Borough of Barnet (18 015 209)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 30-Jul-2019

Summary: Miss B complains about the lack of housing help from the Council when she was pregnant and had been asked to leave her mother’s property. We find the Council’s handling of Miss B’s homelessness application was affected by fault. This caused Miss B avoidable distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B and write an action plan setting out its learning from this complaint. We have completed our investigation.

London Borough of Havering (19 005 620)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 26-Jul-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman does not have reason to investigate this complaint about the way the Council has dealt with a woman’s housing case. This is because the woman had statutory appeal rights concerning the Council’s decision about her homelessness application, and there is no sign of fault by the Council in other respects.

Watford Borough Council (17 015 632)

Statement Not upheld Homelessness 22-Jul-2019

Summary: The complainant, Ms G, said Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Hertfordshire County Council failed to properly plan her discharge from hospital and provide her with formal support after she was discharged from hospital. Ms G said this had an adverse impact on her wellbeing. She also said Watford Borough Council failed to consider her homelessness and housing application properly which meant she remained in unsuitable accommodation for too long. On the evidence available the Ombudsmen found no fault in the way the Borough Council dealt with Ms G’s homelessness situation. There were faults in the way the Trust discharged Ms G from hospital and both it and the County Council failed to assess all her needs once she was in the community and this had adverse impact on Ms G’s wellbeing. The Trust and the County Council have agreed to the Ombudsmen’s recommendations and will apologise to Ms G and pay her a financial remedy to acknowledge the adverse impact the faults had on her wellbeing. The Trust and the County Council will act to improve discharge planning and the requirement to complete formal assessments in line with the Care Act 2014.

Milton Keynes Council (18 004 076)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 22-Jul-2019

Summary: There was fault in the way the Council carried out the homelessness prevention duty when Mrs X was threatened with homelessness. This caused Mrs X some extra worry and distress at a difficult time in her life. The Council has agreed to provide a suitable remedy.

Birmingham City Council (18 017 976)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 17-Jul-2019

Summary: Miss B complains about the Council’s handling of her request for housing help when she was made homeless. There was some fault by the Council. The Council delayed deciding Miss B's review against the Council’s decision on her homelessness application. The Council was also at fault for the way it considered Miss B's applications to join the Council’s housing register. The Council has agreed to take action to put right this injustice, including making a payment to Miss B.

Sheffield City Council (19 002 473)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 09-Jul-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about the Council’s decision to cancel her priority under its housing allocation policy. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault in the way the Council reached its decision.