Basildon Borough Council (21 016 752)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with his homelessness application between August and October 2021. He says the Council’s poor service led to a hospital admission and has had an enduring impact on his mental health. The Council was at fault. It did not do enough to help prevent Mr X’s homelessness. The Council will apologise to Mr X, pay him £200 to acknowledge the distress and uncertainty caused and review its procedures.
The complaint
- Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with his homelessness application between August and October 2021. He says the Council did not provide appropriate support to prevent him from becoming homeless or relieve his homelessness after he had to leave his home. He says the Council’s poor service caused him to have suicidal thoughts, led to a hospital admission and had an enduring impact on his mental health. He wants the Council to provide a financial remedy in recognition of the injustice caused.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- If we are satisfied with an organisation’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)
How I considered this complaint
- I read Mr X’s complaint and spoke with him about it on the phone.
- I made enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent me.
- Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
Homelessness law and guidance
- Councils have duties towards homeless people under the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities 2018 is the statutory guidance which councils must have regard to when carrying out their functions in relation to homeless people.
- Where a council is satisfied an applicant is threatened with homelessness and eligible, it must take reasonable steps to help ensure the person continues to have accommodation available to them. This is called the prevention duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 195, as substituted by s.4(2) Homelessness Reduction Act 2017)
- The Homelessness Code of Guidance says this means either:
- helping them to stay in their current accommodation; or
- helping them to find a new place to live before they become homeless.
- If a council is satisfied an applicant is eligible and homeless or threatened with homelessness, it must assess their needs and draw up a 'personalised housing plan’ (PHP). This lists steps to prevent or relieve the person’s homelessness. (Housing Act 1996, section 189A, as inserted by s.3(1), Homelessness Reduction Act 2017)
- Where a council is satisfied that an applicant is already homeless and eligible, it must take ‘reasonable steps’ to help ensure the applicant secures accommodation which is available for at least six months. This is called the relief duty. The relief duty lasts for 56 days unless ended in another way sooner. (Housing Act 1996, section 189B, as substituted by s.4(2) Homelessness Reduction Act 2017)
- If a council is satisfied someone is eligible, homeless, in priority need and unintentionally homeless it will owe them the main homelessness duty. Generally councils carry out this duty by arranging temporary accommodation until it makes a suitable offer of social housing or private rented accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
What happened
- Mr X has a history of mental health conditions and receives support from NHS mental health services. In 2021, he lived with a family member.
- In August 2021, he made a homelessness application to the Council. He said the family member was selling the property and he had to leave his home by mid-September 2021. He asked the Council for support to find alternative accommodation.
- The Council did not make contact so Mr X chased the Council for a response a couple of weeks later. The Council acknowledged it had received his application but did not offer any further support.
- In September 2021, two days before Mr X had to leave his accommodation, the Council completed a homelessness application interview with Mr X. During this meeting, the Council said it explained its “homeless tonight” process to him and what he should do on the day he became homeless. Mr X says the officer did not offer any support to prevent him from becoming homeless. The officer did not produce or send Mr X a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP).
- Two days later, Mr X became homeless. He contacted the Council and requested a call back but says the cumulative stress and uncertainty had a detrimental impact on his mental health. Mr X presented at a nearby hospital as he was concerned for his mental health and safety. The Council says it spoke to him whilst he was waiting to be seen and provided him with the homeless team’s out of hours contact number, in case he was discharged that night. However, Mr X was admitted to hospital the same day.
- Two weeks later Mr X was discharged from hospital. He contacted the Council and told them he was homeless. It provided him with accommodation the same night.
- Mr X complained to the Council. He complained about the homelessness interview and how the Council had managed his application. He said the Council’s actions had caused his mental health to deteriorate and led to him needing a hospital admission for his own safety.
- In October, the Council considered his homelessness application and was satisfied it owed him the relief duty. It confirmed this duty to Mr X and said that over the next 56 days it would help him to secure accommodation.
- The Council allocated Mr X a different housing officer and produced a PHP for him. It contacted Mr X to discuss this and started to work with him to find him suitable longer-term accommodation.
- The Council responded to his complaint. It upheld his complaint and accepted the homelessness interview did not meet its service standards. It apologised to Mr X for the poor service and said it had spoken with the officer involved.
- Mr X was dissatisfied with this response and asked to escalate him complaint. He said he did not think speaking with the officer was a sufficient response.
- In November 2021, the Council accepted it owed Mr X the main homelessness duty to provide him with settled accommodation. It offered Mr X temporary accommodation.
- The Council provided a stage two complaint response. It said it had taken his complaint seriously and taken action it considered appropriate to address the issues raised with the officer involved. It said it had also agreed to change his housing officer which it did not often do. It apologised to him for any distress caused. It said the response concluded its complaints process and if he remained dissatisfied he could approach the Ombudsman.
- Mr X brought his complaint to us in February 2022.
- In its response to our enquiries, the Council said there was nothing it could have done to prevent Mr X’s homelessness. It said had Mr X been issued with an eviction notice, then it would have explored prevention measures. However, as he was asked to leave by a family member, there was no prevention work that could have been done.
- It accepted it should have provided him with a PHP after the homelessness interview in September. It said when he was allocated a different officer in October, they sent him a PHP the same day. It apologised for any upset and distress caused.
Analysis
- The Council says it could not have done any more to prevent Mr X’s homelessness. However, as well as requiring councils to help applicants stay in their current accommodation, the Code of Guidance also says councils should act to help them find somewhere to live before they become homeless. The evidence shows the Council did not do this as:
- It did not take any action to support Mr X to secure alternative accommodation before he had to leave his home in mid-September.
- It only completed his homelessness application interview two days before he was to become homeless, giving little time for any action before he had to move out.
- Following the interview, it failed to produce a PHP setting out what it was going to do to help prevent his homelessness and failed to take any action.
- In its enquiry response to us, the Council accepted it should have produced a PHP for Mr X after his homelessness interview in September. The failure to produce a PHP was fault. The Council also had a duty to support Mr X to try and prevent his homelessness by helping him find alternative accommodation. It did not do this and this was also fault. The lack of support and uncertainty caused Mr X considerable distress.
- The Council has told us there was nothing more it could have done to support Mr X, as he had no choice but to leave. This response raises a concern that the Council may not be fulfilling its prevention duty to help applicants find alternative accommodation before they become homeless, as well as helping them to remain in their current accommodation.
- Mr X says the Council’s actions caused his mental health to deteriorate and led to a hospital admission. Being told you must leave your home would cause most people some degree of distress and is likely to have impacted significantly on Mr X due to his history of mental health conditions. However, although the lack of Council support is likely to have increased Mr X’s distress and uncertainty, I cannot say it caused Mr X’s mental health to deteriorate or was the direct cause of his hospital admission.
- When Mr X was discharged from hospital and contacted the Council to tell it he was homeless, it provided him with emergency accommodation the same night. It then continued to provide accommodation until accepting it had a duty to provide more long term settled accommodation. From October 2021 onwards, there was no fault in the Council’s actions.
Agreed action
- Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
- Write to Mr X to apologise for failing to act between August and September 2021 to try and prevent him from becoming homeless.
- Pay Mr X £200 in recognition of the distress and uncertainty caused.
- Within three months of the final decision, the Council will review its procedures to ensure it complies with its prevention duty to help applicants find alternative accommodation before they become homeless, as well as helping them to stay in their current accommodation.
- It should provide evidence to us that it has completed this review and of any actions identified to improve its service.
Final decision
- I have completed my investigation. I have found fault and the Council has agreed action to remedy the injustice caused and improve Council services.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman