Summary: Mrs B complained about how the Council handled her homelessness application when she was threatened with homelessness in June 2022. She said its communication was poor and it wrongly closed her case. She said because of this, she was sofa surfing while heavily pregnant. We found fault with the Council for delays offering Mrs B interim accommodation and progressing her homelessness application. These faults caused Mrs B significant injustice. The Council will apologise and make a financial payment Mrs B to remedy this. It will also make service improvements.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complained about how the Council handled her homelessness application when she became threatened with homelessness in June 2022. She said its communication was poor and it wrongly closed her case. She said because of this, she was sofa surfing while heavily pregnant.

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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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered:
• Mrs B’s complaint and the information she provided;
• documents supplied by the Council;
• relevant legislation and guidelines; and,
• the Council’s policies and procedures.
6. Mrs B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision. I consider their comments before making my final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

7. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
8. A person is to be considered homeless if they do not have accommodation that they are entitled to occupy, which is accessible and physically available to them (and their household) and which it would be reasonable for them to continue to live in. (Housing Act 1996, section 175)
9. If a council has ‘reason to believe’ someone may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, it must take a homelessness application and make inquiries. The threshold for taking an application is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular council department. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5) 
10. If the council has ‘reason to believe’ a homeless applicant may be eligible for assistance and have a priority need, they must be provided with interim accommodation. Examples of applicants in priority need are pregnant women.
11. After completing inquiries, the council must give the applicant a decision in writing. If it is an adverse decision, the letter must fully explain the reasons.  All letters must include information about the right to request a review and the timescale for doing so. (Housing Act 1996, section 184, from 3 April 2018 Homelessness Code of Guidance 18.32 and 18.33)
12. Assessment duty: councils must complete an assessment if they are satisfied an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness. Councils must notify the applicant of the assessment. Councils should work with applicants to identify practical and reasonable steps for the council and the applicant to take to help the applicant keep or secure suitable accommodation. These steps should be tailored to the household, and follow from the findings of the assessment, and must be provided to the applicant in writing as their personalised housing plan (PHP). (Homelessness Reduction Act, 2017, section 3).
13. Prevention duty: councils have a duty to take reasonable steps to help prevent any eligible person (regardless of priority need status, intentionality and whether they have a local connection) who is threatened with homelessness from becoming homeless. 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. The prevention duty continues for 56 days unless it is brought to an end by an event such as accommodation being secured for the person, or by their becoming homeless. (Homelessness Reduction Act, 2017, section 4)
14. Relief duty: If the applicant is already homeless, or becomes homeless despite activity during the prevention stage, the council’s reasonable steps will be focused on helping the applicant to secure accommodation. This relief duty lasts for 56 days unless ended in another way. If the council has reason to believe a homeless applicant may be eligible for assistance and have a priority need, they must be provided with interim accommodation. (Homelessness Reduction Act, 2017, section 5)
15. If a council is satisfied someone is eligible, homeless, in priority need and unintentionally homeless it will owe them the main housing duty. Generally, a council carries out the duty by arranging temporary accommodation until it makes a suitable offer of social housing or private rented accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
16. Any accommodation that is provided, obtained or secured by a council must be suitable for the applicant. This applies whether this is under a duty or a discretionary power, and also applies to interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206, Homelessness Code of Guidance 2018, section 17.2)
17. The Ombudsman’s focus report, ‘Home Truths’, highlighted common issues with the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act. These included:
• delays accepting the relief duty;
• delays issuing personal housing plans;
• failures to take steps to deal with homelessness or threatened homelessness; and,
• gatekeeping interim accommodation.

Council complaint procedure

18. The Council has a two-stage complaint procedure:
19. Stage one: complaints are acknowledged within five working days. The Council aims to respond within 20 working days following an investigation by officers employed in that service area. The response is signed off by the relevant Head of Service, Director or a manager delegated to act on their behalf as appropriate.
20. Stage two: complaints are acknowledged within five working days, and we aim to complete the investigation within 30 working days from the receipt date of the Stage two request. The Council may refuse to undertake a final review (Stage 2) if it is satisfied that the complainant has not provided a sufficient basis for undertaking a further investigation, or that a remedy may be provided through an alternative route. Where applicable, the Complaints Service will issue the complainant with a response detailing why it has decided not to pursue an investigation.

What happened

21. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
22. Mrs B made a homelessness application in June 2022.
23. Mrs B attended an assessment appointment with the Council in July 2022. Mrs B told the Council she was expecting a child and the friend she was staying with had asked her to leave. Mrs B told the Council she had been staying with different friends and had no fixed address. She said she had been staying with a friend at her current address (property 1) for just over a year and had not paid rent. Mrs B gave the Council contact information for her friend at property 1. She explained she used another friend’s address (property 2) for correspondence, and she had not stayed there since 2018. She said she could provide this friend’s contact information if the Council needed it.
24. The Council asked Mrs B to provide the following documents within seven days of her assessment:
• Rehousing form
• Consent form
• Declaration of property form
• Address History
• Suitability Form
• Last three months’ bank statements
• Last three months’ payslips
• Copy of her passport
• Proof of pregnancy
• Proof of address from 2018 to 2022
• Eviction Notice or letter with a copy of excluder’s proof of ID and a copy of proof of address if the excluder was a friend/family member/partner.
• Copy of proof of ID and proof of address for the friend whose address she used for correspondence.
25. It said if she did not, it could only assume she no longer needed housing assistance from the council, and it would close her case.
26. Mrs B sent the Council completed rehousing, consent, address history, suitability and declaration of property forms. She also provided copies of her bank statements, payslips, British passport and proof of pregnancy.
27. In August 2022, the Council closed Mrs B’s homelessness application because she had not provided:
• Eviction Notice or letter with a copy of excluder’s proof of identification and a copy of proof of address if the excluder was her friend/family member/partner (property 1).
• Copy of proof of identification and proof of address for her friend who lived at property 2, her correspondence address.
28. In September 2022, Mrs B contacted the Council and asked for an update on her housing application. The Council told her it had closed her application. Mrs B asked the Council to reactivate her application.
29. Mrs B complained to the Council in November 2022 that it closed her homelessness application without telling her. The Council responded to her complaint at stage one in December 2022. The Council accepted it should not have closed her application without good warning, an explanation and opportunity for her to respond. The Council apologised. It reopened her homelessness application and awarded her £250 compensation.
30. Mrs B was unhappy with the Council’s response and asked it to consider her complaint at stage two. She said she was unhappy the Council had not reassigned her case to a new case worker. She said her case worker had not kept her updated about her case or told her what documents were outstanding.
31. The Council wrote to Mrs B in January 2023. It asked her to provide a letter from her friend at property 1 stating she could not live there and a copy of their identification. It gave Mrs B a week to respond and said if she did not, it would assume she did not need assistance and would close her case.
32. The Council spoke to Mrs B and asked her to provide:
• Letter from the excluder at property 1.
• Identification and proof of address from the person living at property 2.
• Proof of her last settled accommodation which she relinquished the tenancy of because of affordability.
33. Mrs B’s midwife sent the Council a letter in support of her homelessness application. She explained Mrs B had experienced difficulties with the housing department and despite giving the correct documents, the Council had not taken any action. She asked the Council to house Mrs B as soon as possible because her due date (February) was fast approaching.
34. Mrs B sent the Council a letter from her employer confirming her length of employment, rent receipts and a copy of her notice to leave.
35. The Council sent Mrs B notification that it accepted the relief duty. It said it carried out an assessment in July 2022 and the outcome of this was that she was eligible for help, and it was satisfied she was homeless. It confirmed:
• She was eligible for assistance because she is a British Citizen.
• She was homeless. Because her friends had asked her to leave their property.
36. The Council sent Mrs B a copy of her PHP. It recorded she was nine months pregnant and homeless. It said she should follow up a minimum of 20 property advertisements each week and attend viewings her caseworker sent her on. It said it would help negotiate a tenancy agreement and arrange a move in date once she had secured a property. The Council also said it would give her details to private landlords it worked with if suitable properties became available.
37. The Council provided Mrs B with interim accommodation in January 2023. Mrs B said the accommodation was on the fourth floor with no cooking facilities and no lift. When I raised this with the Council, it said it would offer her alternative interim accommodation.

Analysis

38. The Council had a duty to provide interim accommodation as soon as it had reason to believe Mrs B may be homeless, eligible and in priority need. There is no evidence the Council considered this when she first approached it in June 2022, which was fault. The Council said it did not offer Mrs B interim accommodation because she did not provide all the documents it asked her for, specifically evidence she had been asked to leave where she was staying. The threshold for providing interim accommodation is low; Mrs B telling the Council she was pregnant and sofa surfing should have been enough to trigger the Council’s duty to provide this. Councils should not delay providing interim accommodation while it undertakes inquiries and doing so was fault. Not providing Mrs B with interim accommodation between June 2022 and January 2023 was fault. Although Mrs B could stay at property 1, she was sofa surfing while pregnant and the delay prevented her being able to access suitable accommodation.
39. Mrs B confirmed she was a British Citizen in July 2022 and therefore, eligible for assistance. As such, the Council owed her the relief duty. It should have produced a personalised housing plan and worked with her to secure accommodation. Instead of accepting the relief duty, the Council closed Mrs B’s case. It then took no action to prevent Mrs B’s homelessness until January 2023. This was fault. This fault meant Mrs B had to live in unsuitable accommodation for longer than she should have. The Council accepted it should not have closed her application without good warning, an explanation and opportunity for her to respond. However, this was not an isolated incident. In another investigation we carried out in 2022, case 22 008 675, the Council accepted it wrongly closed the complainants homelessness application twice without telling them and before it should have done. Closing Mrs B’s case without telling her meant she wrongly believed the Council was processing her application and making inquiries to decide what duty it owed her.
40. The Council said it closed Mrs B’s case because she had not provided all the documents it asked for. The Council cannot summarily close an application if an applicant is engaging but has not provided all the documents it asked for. Furthermore, in July 2022 Mrs B had given it a copy of her passport, proof of pregnancy and details for her friend at property 1 who had asked her to leave. This should have been enough for the Council to make inquiries and decide whether she was eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need. The burden of proof rested with the council. The Council should not have waited until Mrs B had provided everything before it considered whether it could make these decisions. Indeed, some of the information it asked for appeared irrelevant to these decisions, for example, her last three months’ pay slips. This fault meant Mrs B did not receive support from the Council under the relief duty between August 2022 and January 2023.
41. In January 2023, the Council provided Mrs B with interim accommodation. Mrs B said the accommodation was on the 4th floor with no cooking facilities and no lift. I asked the Council to show how it satisfied itself this accommodation was suitable for Mrs B. The Council did not provide any evidence to show it considered this. Therefore, I cannot say it properly considered the suitability of the interim accommodation. This was fault. Without a proper decision-making process, we can decide what would likely to have happened if the Council had made the decision properly. On the balance of probabilities, had the Council properly considered suitability, it is likely it would have decided the interim accommodation was not suitable because Mrs B was heavily pregnant and did not have access to cooking facilities. Because of the Council’s fault, Mrs B spent a month living in unsuitable interim accommodation and had the extra cost of buying take-away food.
42. Mrs B asked the Council to consider her complaint at stage two because she was unhappy with its stage one response. The Council did not respond to her request. This was fault and caused Mrs B further unnecessary frustration and a missed opportunity to have her complaint resolved sooner.
43. The faults I identified during my investigation were highlighted in the Ombudsman’s 2020 report, ‘Home Truths’ and the issue with the Council wrongly closing a homelessness application was found in a previous investigation, case 22 008 675. It is disappointing the Council has not taken on board the learning points from our report, and that it repeated a fault it made previously.
44. I consider the Council’s offer of £250 sufficient to remedy the unnecessary distress and uncertainty caused to Mrs B by its faults. I recommend it make a further payment to recognise the time she spent sofa surfing or in unsuitable interim accommodation.

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Agreed action

45. Within one month of the final decision, the Council will:
• apologise to Mrs B for the faults found in this investigation.
• pay Mrs B £1400 to recognise the time she spent sofa surfing and in unsuitable interim accommodation.
• will ensure staff emails do not say it will assume an applicant no longer needs housing assistance if they do not provide all the documents it asked for.
46. Within two months of the final decision, the Council will:
• review the evidence it asks applicants to provide to show they are owed duties under the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and ensure what it asks for is necessary and not excessive, and update relevant staff.
• review its procedure for closing homelessness applications to ensure it is appropriate and it tells the applicant, and update relevant staff.
• provide training to relevant staff on the Council’s duties under the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. This will include the Council’s duty to provide interim accommodation if it has ‘reason to believe’ a homeless applicant may be eligible for assistance and have a priority need; the Council’s duties under the assessment, prevention and relief duties; and that, the Council is responsible for making inquiries and the burden to collect evidence should not rest solely on the applicant.
47. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

48. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mrs B’s complaint. Mrs B was caused an injustice by the actions of the Council. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman