Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the time it is taking for the complainant to get an offer of housing from the Council. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council has not provided her with housing. She says, as a young adult, she is entitled to her own space and the Council should help her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered the housing allocations policy. I invites Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Allocations policy

4. The Council places people in bands on the housing register to help it determine priority for housing. It can only offer housing in accordance with the policy. There is a severe shortage of social housing and people can expect to wait many years before placing a successful bid for housing. Some people will never be offered social housing.

What happened

5. Ms X is a recent graduate. She lives with her parents and five siblings in overcrowded accommodation. She has to share a room with her siblings and has no privacy or space.
6. Ms X’s parents have their own housing application and need a four bedroom home. The Council says they face a long wait to be re-housed. Ms X made her own housing application last year. She says the Council told her this was likely to be a quicker route to being housed.
7. Ms X complained after she found out she is unlikely to be offered housing for many years. In response the Council explained she is in the seventh priority group on the housing register and people in groups one to six all have more priority than she does. It explained she would get slightly more priority if she was working. It invited her to make a homelessness application if she has to leave the family home.
8. Ms X says she is entitled to her own home and the Council should offer temporary accommodation until she can find a job which would allow her to find her own accommodation.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Ms X is living in overcrowded conditions and needs more space. However, the Council can only accommodation in accordance with the policy. Unfortunately, although Ms X’s housing is far from ideal, in the context of the policy, she has low priority and will face a very long wait for social housing. Her status on the register might change if she becomes homeless but there would still be no guarantee of housing.
10. Ms X says she was told she would be better off if she made her own application. This may be correct in the sense that councils have more one bedroom homes than large homes. However, Ms X still has low priority on the register. If Ms X had remained on her mother’s housing application she would still be in the same position as now – living in overcrowded conditions but with no hope at all of securing her own home. Unfortunately, although Ms X needs alternative accommodation, the Council does not have the resources to provide housing to everyone who asks for it.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman