Royal Borough of Greenwich (19 004 844)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 25-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr X complains the Council did not properly deal with his homelessness application. The Council was at fault because it did not make appropriate enquiries when Mr X first contacted the Council in December 2018. Mr X suffered distress. The Council has agreed its case records were limited and has offered to apologise to Mr X and pay him £150. This is a suitable remedy.

Birmingham City Council (19 013 381)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 24-Jun-2020

Summary: Ms X complained about the way an operator on behalf of the Council handled her call when she was locked out of her temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault. It will pay her £100 to remedy the injustice caused and take action to prevent a recurrence of the fault.

London Borough of Hackney (18 008 899)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 24-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr C complains the Council was at fault in its service to him when he was in temporary housing. We uphold Mr C’s complaints. The Council has agreed to apologise and pay Mr C £2950 to reflect his avoidable distress, time and trouble and inconvenience of being in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

Leicester City Council (19 015 751)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 24-Jun-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint that the Council placed her in unsuitable emergency accommodation and failed to arrange an alternative as it had agreed to do. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

London Borough of Southwark (19 006 735)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 22-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council handled his homelessness application, causing him to lose the chance to review his homeless decision. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council as it did not provide Mr X with assistance to relieve his homelessness and delayed in providing Mr X with a decision on his application. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused to Mr X.

Aylesbury Vale District Council (19 009 474)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 22-Jun-2020

Summary: Mrs D complains about lack of assistance and a failure to follow procedures by the Council in respect of her housing. The Ombudsman has found some evidence of fault, regarding the joint tenancy and a Tenancy Deposit Scheme claim) which has already been either acknowledged by the Council in its complaint responses or remedied because of this investigation. The Ombudsman has completed the investigation and upheld the complaint because there is fault. However, there is no further action required by the Council because there is no unremedied injustice.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (19 005 520)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 18-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed dealing with his homelessness application and provided unsuitable interim accommodation. On the basis of information seen, there was a delay in making a homelessness decision, a failure to properly consider whether interim accommodation was suitable and a delay in finding alternative accommodation for him. There was also a failure to contact him when the locks were changed at his accommodation. The Council should pay Mr X £350 for the injustice caused and review its processes.

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (19 018 515)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 03-Jun-2020

Summary: Miss X complains about the Council’s failure to fix a problem with her heating and hot water at her temporary accommodation. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for failing to properly manage the repairs. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a financial payment.

London Borough of Camden (19 008 943)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 29-May-2020

Summary: The Council is at fault as it did not give adequate consideration to whether Mr X was eligible for medical points in 2018. But this fault did not cause significant injustice to Mr X.

London Borough of Redbridge (19 005 735)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 28-May-2020

Summary: Miss B complains about the benefit advice the Council gave her when it was dealing with her homeless situation. And about its poor communications about this. The Ombudsman upholds the complaint. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.