Summary: Miss B complains about the Council’s handling of her homelessness application and the provision of accommodation. The Council delayed in deciding Miss B’s homeless application and there was fault in the Council’s communication about her housing situation. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Miss B.

The complaint

1. Miss B and her two children became homeless. She complains:
• The Council wrongly decided she was intentionally homeless;
• The interim accommodation it provided while it considered her homeless application was unsuitable;
• The emergency accommodation provided by the children and young people services (CYPS) was unsuitable;
• The Council said she must leave the emergency accommodation when she had no other accommodation available;
• The Council did not deal with her reports of disrepair at her previous private rented property;
• That she has not been allowed to join the housing register;
• The Council has not provided assistance in securing permanent accommodation.
2. Miss B says the accommodation she and her children have been living in is unsuitable and unpleasant.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated all but the first of the points listed above. I explain at the end of this statement why I have not investigated the first point.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. Homeless applicants may request a review within 21 days of being notified of various decisions including:
• what duty (if any) is owed to them if they are found to be homeless or threatened with homelessness;
• the suitability of accommodation offered to the applicant after a homelessness duty has been accepted (and the suitability of accommodation offered under section 200(3) and section 193). Applicants can request a review of the suitability of accommodation whether or not they have accepted the offer.
5. Councils must complete reviews of the following decisions within eight weeks of the date of the review request:

• intentionally homeless
• suitability of accommodation.

These periods can be extended if the applicant agrees in writing. The council must advise applicant of their right to appeal to the county court on a point of law, and of the period in which to appeal. Applicants can also appeal if the Council takes more than the prescribed time to complete the review. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, 203 and 204)

6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
7. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered the complaint and documents provided by Miss B and spoke to her. I asked the Council to comment on the complaint and provide information. I sent a draft of this statement to Miss B and the Council and considered their comments.

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What I found

Summary of events

9. Miss B was living in a privately rented property. She was evicted in December 2018 and applied to the Council as homeless. The Council placed her in interim accommodation while it considered her application. In May 2019 the Council decided Miss B was homeless, in priority need and eligible for assistance but had made herself intentionally homeless. This meant the Council did not have a duty to provide permanent housing but would continue to provide accommodation and advice and assistance for a reasonable period. It said she could stay in the interim accommodation until 12 July.
10. When Miss B had to leave the interim accommodation CYPS provided emergency accommodation. At the end of July the Council wrote to Miss B saying it had completed its assessment under S17 of the Children Act 1989 and giving her 45 day’s notice to leave the accommodation. At the beginning of September the Council completed its review of the decision that she was intentionally homeless. It changed its decision and accepted it had the main housing duty to her. It then provided temporary accommodation

Analysis

The interim accommodation and emergency accommodation provided by CYPS

11. The interim accommodation provided while the Council considered Miss B’s homelessness application was Council-owned hostel accommodation with shared facilities. I can understand that Miss B would not have been happy there but there was no evidence to show at that time that they had any particular health or other needs which would have meant the accommodation was unsuitable for them. I cannot, therefore, say there was any fault in the Council’s decision that this was suitable.
12. The emergency accommodation provided by CYPS was in a shared house provided by one of the Council’s approved providers. Again I recognise that this would have been difficult for Miss B but the same reasoning applies as above.

Leaving the CYPS accommodation

13. At one point Miss B was looking at making an application to another authority and asked the Council to cancel the emergency CYPS accommodation to enable her to go ahead with that application. I am unclear what happened then but on 29 July the Council wrote to her saying it was ending the CYPS accommodation and giving her 45 days’ notice to leave. In responding to us the Council said there was no question of making her destitute but I have seen nothing to show that the Council made this clear to Miss B. The Council has said the CYPS decision to end the emergency accommodation was because of the review decision to accept the main housing duty but the CYPS decision was over a month before the decision.
14. I cannot say that the 29 July letter was wrongly issued as it may have been responding to Miss B’s request but the lack of clarity after that was wrong. It will have increased the worry for Miss B who believed she was facing being street homeless.
15. Miss B has provided part of a letter which she signed which seems to relate to the provision of CPYS accommodation in August. The Council has not been able to identify this letter but this would seem to indicate that Miss B’s housing situation was clarified by this point.

Joining the housing register

16. Miss B has referred to the date the Council has taken as the effective date for her application. The Council has accepted there was delay in dealing with Miss B’s homeless application and has taken the effective date as when it should have determined her application. That is in accordance with its policy so I have no grounds to criticise the Council or ask it to alter the date.

Securing permanent accommodation

17. The Council has explained the options open to Miss B and in the personal housing plan it explained that the prevention fund would be available. I cannot say the Council has not met its duties to Miss B in giving advice about her housing options and its duties to her.

Disrepair at Miss B’s last accommodation

18. Miss B referred to disrepair at her last settled accommodation. The Council’s records show that in late 2017 Miss B approached for assistance with her benefits. As part of that Miss B referred to damp at the property. The Council advised her to raise it with the Housing Improvement/Environmental Health Team but the Council has no record of further contact from Miss B. I cannot say there was any fault by the Council.

Injustice and remedy

19. There was delay by the Council in determining Miss B’s homeless application. The Council has said this was because of an increase in demand due to the Homelessness Reduction Act and the complexity of the case. As I say above the Council has back dated the effective date of her application. The Council should apologise for the delay but I do not consider it has caused significant injustice to Miss B. While it was considering her application Miss B remained in interim accommodation. If the Council had decided the application more quickly the sequence of events would have remained the same so I do not consider any other remedy is needed.
20. There was a lack of clarity in the Council’s contact with Miss B while she was in the CYPS accommodation which I consider will have caused injustice to her. This was probably clarified in August with the letter I refer to in paragraph 13.

Agreed action

21. The Council will, within a month of the decision, apologise to Miss B for the faults found and pay her £200 in recognition of the injustice caused.

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Final decision

22. The Council delayed in deciding Miss B’s homeless application and there was fault in the Council’s communication about her housing situation. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Miss B.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

23. Miss B asked for a review of the Council’s decision that she was intentionally homeless. That was the proper way to challenge the decision. So that means I will not consider any complaint about the decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman