Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the support the Council provided to the complainant after he contacted it to say he was homeless. This is because it is unlikely the Ombudsman would find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about the support the Council provided after he contacted it to say he was homeless. Mr X says the Council took too long to arrange an appointment to discuss his situation and he had to take out a loan so he could arrange privately rented accommodation.

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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 or continue with 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 have considered Mr X’s complaint and the correspondence from the Council. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

4. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. If a council has reason to believe someone may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, it must take a homelessness application and make enquiries. The threshold for taking an application is low.
5. If a council is satisfied someone is eligible, homeless, in priority need and unintentionally homeless it will owe them the main homelessness duty.

What happened

6. Mr X contacted the Council on 15 July 2019 to say he was homeless and staying with friends. The Council arranged an appointment for Mr X with one of its housing advice and prevention officers. The appointment was booked for the 6 August 2019. Mr X says he could not wait three weeks for an appointment and instead found privately rented accommodation. Mr X asked the Council for help to pay the deposit. The Council asked Mr X for further information so it could arrange a deposit bond. The Council says Mr X did not provide any further information. Mr X took out a loan so he could secure the property. He also cancelled his appointment with the Council’s advice and prevention officers.
7. Mr X says the matter has had a significant impact on his mental health. He says the Council took too long to arrange an appointment to discuss his situation and therefore he had no choice but to take out a loan to avoid being street homeless.

Assessment

8. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the support the Council provided after he told it he was homeless. This is because it is unlikely the Ombudsman would find fault by the Council.
9. The Council must take a homelessness application from someone if it has reason to believe they are homeless or threatened with homelessness. In this case, the Council arranged an appointment for Mr X to discuss his situation and so he could make a homelessness application. Mr X has complained that the appointment he was given was three weeks after he first contacted the Council. The Council says it can only offer urgent appointments to people in priority need. Mr X argues that his appointment should have been prioritised because of the impact on his mental health. However, the Council was not aware of the extent of Mr X’s ongoing mental health issues when he first contacted it. Based on the information it had, the Council did not consider that Mr X was in priority need and therefore did not offer him an earlier appointment. I understand Mr X disagrees, but the Council considered if he should be given a priority appointment and based its decision on the information it had at the time. Therefore, it is unlikely I could find fault by the Council.
10. Mr X says that he had to take out a loan so he could secure accommodation because the Council would not offer him an earlier appointment. However, it is also unlikely I could find fault by the Council in this regard. Mr X contacted the Council to say he had found privately rented accommodation and asked it for help to pay the deposit. The Council asked Mr X for further information so it could arrange a deposit bond. However, as Mr X did not provide the required information, it is unlikely I could say the Council was at fault for not providing him assistance to pay his deposit.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely he would find fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman