Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to add his children to his housing application. He says he has evidence that they should be part of his household but the council has refused to accept this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X is living in temporary accommodation provided by the Council as a homeless applicant in 2023. He says his housing application is currently for himself as a single person but he wants to be considered for family housing because he has two children who he wants to add to his application. The Council told him that the children are adults and have accommodation of their own.
6. There is no evidence that they are homeless and were not accepted under the homelessness duty as part of his family unit when he was placed in temporary accommodation.
7. Mr X asked for a review of his application priority under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996. The Council did not uphold his review because it says his children are adults over 18 years old who could apply for housing in their own right and it would not accept them as part of his household normally residing with him. A previous residence order from the Court prior to him being homeless was no longer applicable because as adults his children no longer met the Children Act 1989 provisions.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether you disagree with the decision the organisation made.
9. We do not investigate complaints because the complainant feels they should be rehoused by a council. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas and we may not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone, if it has prioritised applicants and allocated properties according to its published allocations policy.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman