Homelessness

Ashford Borough Council (18 011 675)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 17-May-2019

Summary: Miss B complains about the Council's handling of her request for housing help when she and her son were made homeless. We find the Council's handling of Miss B's homelessness application was affected by fault, particularly the Council did not comply with the Relief duty it owed Miss B. This has caused Miss B distress and uncertainty about what would have happened had there been no fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to make a payment to put right the injustice suffered by Miss B and to learn from this complaint.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (17 014 538)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 13-May-2019

Summary: Ms Y complains the Council placed her family into unsuitable temporary accommodation in October 2015 and has since failed to resolve her concerns about the property. The Council did not properly explain Ms Y's right to request a suitability review of the accommodation. The Council will now undertake a review and pay £150 to Ms Y in acknowledgment of her avoidable time and trouble.

London Borough of Haringey (18 004 574)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 10-May-2019

Summary: Mr A complains the Council did not respond appropriately to his requests for help when his private tenancy was at risk. He complains the Council did not apply reasonable adjustments and this had a significant impact on his mental health. The Ombudsman's finds there was fault by the Council. We consider the Council has proposed a suitable remedy.

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (18 014 143)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 09-May-2019

Summary: The Council was at fault because it did not increase the points awarded to Miss X's housing application when it had not found suitable alternative temporary accommodation for her within three months of upholding a suitability review. The Council has agreed to provide a suitable remedy. Two other parts of Miss X's complaint were not upheld.

London Borough of Hillingdon (18 011 230)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 03-May-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council refused to provide temporary accommodation so he has been forced to sleep rough despite having medical conditions. The Council is at fault for not responding to Mr X when he was in hospital in November 2018. It is not at fault for not providing temporary accommodation.

Torbay Council (18 009 638)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 02-May-2019

Summary: The Council was at fault as there is no evidence on the files to explain the steps it took to get temporary accommodation for a family for 6 weeks. A payment of £525 remedies any inconvenience suffered from the uncertainty and unsuitable housing for the 6 weeks. There is also evidence of delay in updating the personalised housing plan, which prevented the complainant bidding on social housing, although she did not miss out on obtaining a permanent place to live.

London Borough of Havering (18 014 929)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 01-May-2019

Summary: Miss X complains the Council failed to accept a homeless application from her in April 2018, then again in October 2018. She says she and her children are currently living with family members and they do not have a home. She wants the Council to consider her application and provide her family with accommodation. The Ombudsman has found the Council was at fault for the way it ended its duty to prevent Miss X from becoming homeless. However, this did not cause her any significant injustice and we have not found any fault in relation to the other parts of her complaint. Nevertheless, we have made a service improvement recommendation to address the fault that was found.

Northampton Borough Council (18 011 094)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 30-Apr-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council did not handle his homelessness application correctly. He said this left him in unsuitable accommodation that he should not have to pay for. The Council was at fault for delaying Mr X's application. This did not cause Mr X an injustice. This is because the Council found Mr X an immediate placement in a shelter and progressed his referral into settled accommodation in a timely manner.

Swale Borough Council (17 019 143)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 29-Apr-2019

Summary: The complaint concerns what happened when Ms X sought help with housing from the Council when she was experiencing domestic abuse. There were some faults by the Council. Those faults caused Ms X uncertainty, anxiety and missed opportunity. The Council has agreed to apologise and review what happened.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (18 005 885)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 24-Apr-2019

Summary: The Council failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation for eleven months and did not reply to complaints about the delay in providing suitable accommodation. During this time, the complainant had a four-hour daily commute to get her to work and get her children to school. This left them exhausted and out of pocket. The Council will apologise and pay the complainant £2,400.