Summary: The Ombudsman has discontinued the investigation into Ms X complaint about the Council’s decision not to take a homeless application from her. This is because the Council has now taken a homeless application from Ms X and agreed to update policies and procedures.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about the Council’s decision not to take a homeless application from 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of this investigation I considered the information provided by Ms X. I made enquires to the Council and considered its response. I send a draft of this decision to Ms X and the Council.

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What I found

6. The Homelessness Code of Guidance (February 2018) for local authorities says, where another housing authority has previously made decisions about an applicant’s circumstances, a housing authority considering a fresh application may wish to have regard to those decisions. However, housing authorities should not rely solely on decisions made by another housing authority and will need to make their own inquiries to reach an independent decision on whether any duty, and if so which duty, is owed.

What happened

7. In 2019 Ms X applied for homelessness assistance. This was in another local authority area, Council Y. Council Y placed her into emergency accommodation while it considered her application.
8. In March 2020, Council Y told Ms X it considered her homeless intentionally and did not owe her a duty to house her. Ms X’s emergency accommodation also came to an end.
9. In July 2020 Ms X contacted the Council for housing assistance. She was staying with a family member temporarily following her accommodation with Council Y ending.
10. In August 2020, the Council wrote to Ms X saying it would not take a homeless application from her. The Council found Ms X had made a previous homeless application to Council Y in 2019 and was happy with Council Y’s decision.
11. The Council said it did not believe there had been changes in Ms X’s circumstances since her previous homeless application so would not take a new homeless application.
12. Ms X contacted the Ombudsman. After the Ombudsman contacted the Council, it decided to take a homeless application from Ms X, make inquiries and issue her with a decision. The Council said it nominated Ms X for temporary accommodation but she preferred to stay with a family member until the assessment is carried out.
13. The Council said it sought advice about whether it should take a homeless application from Ms X and, in light of advice received, it would amend its internal policies and procedures.

Analysis

14. The Council has now accepted a homeless application from Ms X. It has also said it would amend internal policies and procedures. This is a sufficient remedy to the complaint and further investigation would unlikely lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

15. I have discontinued this investigation on the basis the Council has taken action which has resolved the outstanding issue and no further action by the Ombudsman is needed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman