Summary: Ms Y complained about the way the Council dealt with her housing register and homelessness applications. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, with its failures and delays in: processing Ms Y’s housing register application; taking her homelessness application; providing her with interim accommodation and moving her to suitable accommodation; and making the main housing duty decision. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Ms Y, making payments to recognise the impact on her of the delays and unsuitable accommodation, the upset, worry and uncertainty and making service improvements.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms Y, complains about the way the Council dealt with her housing register and homelessness applications. She says the Council failed to:

• process her housing register application in a timely way;
• respond properly to her request for help with her housing situation when she was threatened with homelessness and then made homeless; and
• properly consider the suitability of the interim accommodation it provided.

2. Ms Y says because of the Council’s failures she and her young child were left homeless and had to sleep in her car. Her housing situation and lack of settled, suitable accommodation affected her and her child’s wellbeing.
3. She wants the Council to provide her with suitable temporary accommodation and process her housing register application without any further delay.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these.
5. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
6. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
7. 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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What I have and have not investigated

8. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
9. I have not considered Ms Y’s complaint about the Council’s delays in processing her housing register application in the period before September 2022.
10. This is because Ms Y did not complain to us about the Council’s handling of her housing register application until September 2023. Based on the evidence seen, I do not consider there are good reasons why Ms Y could not have brought this part of her complaint to us before this.
11. I have considered Ms Y’s complaint about the continuing delay in the period from September 2022.

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How I considered this complaint

12. I spoke to Ms Y, made enquiries of the Council and read the information Ms Y and the Council provided about the complaint.
13. I invited Ms Y and the Council to comment on a draft version of this decision. I considered their responses before making my final decision.

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What I found

What should have happened

Homelessness applications

14. Councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness are set out in Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities.
15. If someone contacts a council seeking accommodation or help to obtain accommodation and gives ‘reason to believe’ they ‘may be’ homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, the council has a duty to make inquiries into what, if any, further duty it owes them. The threshold for triggering the duty to make inquiries is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular department of the council. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
16. Councils can suggest alternative solutions in cases of potential homelessness where these would be suitable and acceptable to the applicant. However, councils must not do this to avoid their legal duties, especially the duty to make inquiries into the applicant’s homelessness. The Ombudsman has criticised councils for ‘gatekeeping’ practices, for example, failing to take a homelessness application at the earliest opportunity.

Duty to arrange accommodation

17. If a council is satisfied someone is homeless and eligible for assistance it must take reasonable steps to secure accommodation for them. This is called the relief duty. At the end of the relief stage (usually after 56 days) the council must decide if it owes the main housing duty.
18. A council must secure accommodation for applicants and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. This is called interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
19. If, having made inquiries, the council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. The accommodation a council provides until it can end this duty is called temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)

Suitability of accommodation

20. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of their household.  This duty applies to interim and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
21. The courts have said (in the case of Elkundi & others v Birmingham City Council) the duty to provide suitable accommodation cannot be deferred or delayed.
22. Wherever possible, Councils should avoid using bed and breakfast accommodation. (Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17.33)
23. Bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation can only be used for households which include a pregnant woman or dependent child when no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks. B&B is accommodation which is not self-contained, not owned by the council or a registered provider of social housing and where the toilet, washing, or cooking facilities are shared with other households. (Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17.35)

The Council’s allocations policy

24. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14)).
25. The Council’s allocations policy sets out how it decides whether to accept applications to join its housing register, and if accepted, how it assesses applicants’ priority for housing. Once it has assessed their level of housing need, it places applicants in one of three priority bands - Band 1: High Priority; Band 2: Medium Priority; and Band 3: Low Priority. The criteria for Band 2 include homeless applicants.
26. It then uses a single direct offer system to allocate available homes to applicants with high enough priority on the housing register.

What happened

27. I have set out a summary of the key events below. It is not meant to show everything that happened. It is based on my review of all the evidence provided about this complaint.

Complaint background

28. Ms Y and her child were living with her family in their home, in overcrowded accommodation. In July 2021 she applied to join the Council’s housing register.
29. In early 2023 she contacted Council about her application. It had not completed the processing of her application or confirmed her priority banding. She told the Council she and her child were still living in overcrowded accommodation.

June 2023: Ms Y tells the Council she is homeless and asks for help

30. Ms Y asked the Council for help on 13 June. She said she had been told to leave her accommodation at the end of the month. She did not receive any response.
31. She complained to the Council on 27 June. She said it had not replied to her requests for help. She and her child were now homeless and sleeping in a car. She wanted to make a homelessness application and needed emergency accommodation. She also asked about her housing register application.
32. The Council responded on 28 June. It said:

• her housing register application was still waiting to be assessed as there was a significant backlog;
• the information she had provided suggested she may now be homeless; and
• any homelessness application would supersede her housing register application. It would not be backdated to the date of her housing register application and she would lose her waiting time.

33. Ms Y told the Council she was not satisfied with its reply. She was still sleeping in the car and needed temporary accommodation.

July 2023: Ms Y’s further contact with Council

34. Ms Y told the Council again she was still homeless and now sleeping on a friend’s sofa as a short-term measure.
35. On 10 July the Council asked Ms Y if. and when, she needed temporary accommodation. She replied that she did, and as soon as possible.

August 2023: Ms Y’s homelessness application

36. On 8 August the Council sent a further response to Ms Y’s complaint. It accepted its service had fallen short of its expected standards. It understood she was staying with a friend until the end of August. It had made an appointment to discuss the situation with her on 25 August.
37. The Council then completed a housing assistance assessment for Ms Y. This recorded she had previously been sleeping in her car, now staying with a friend but would have to leave at the end of August.
38. A caseworker spoke to Ms Y’s friend who agreed Ms Y could stay with her until 15 September.
39. The Council issued a decision letter confirming it accepted it owed Ms Y the relief and interim accommodation duties.

September 2023: Ms Y is provided with interim accommodation

40. The Council completed an accommodation request for Ms Y. This confirmed she had one dependent child.
41. The Council provided Ms Y and her child with B&B accommodation on 18 September.

October 2023: Council accepts the main housing duty

42. The Council accepted it owed Ms Y the main housing duty on 15 October.
43. It also confirmed it had placed Ms Y on the housing register in Band 2 with priority from 18 September 2023.

November 2023: Ms Y moves to new temporary accommodation

44. In November 2023 the Council offered Ms Y new temporary accommodation. This was a self-contained one-bedroom flat. It said it had assessed her circumstances and was satisfied this was suitable for her. It confirmed she had the right to ask for a review of its decision this was suitable for her.
45. Ms Y and her child moved to the new temporary accommodation on 27 November 2023.

The Council’s response to our enquiries about Ms Y’s complaint

46. The Council has accepted:

• there was a delay processing Ms Y’s housing register application due to a significant backlog. It says its current time for processing housing register applications is now eight weeks on average; and
• its housing solutions service should have taken a homelessness application from Ms Y when she contacted it in June 2023.

47. It told us:

• as with other London boroughs, it is finding it increasingly difficult to manage housing need and find suitable accommodation for homeless households. Because of this it is having to place households in B&B for longer than six weeks
• it provided Ms Y with B&B accommodation in September 2023 as a last resort because it did not have any self-contained accommodation available; and
• it did not have a suitable property to move Ms Y to within the six- week timeframe because of the severe shortage of housing options within the borough and neighbouring areas.

48. It now has a new homelessness case management system to improve monitoring of households in temporary accommodation and reporting on households in shared accommodation for more than six weeks.

The housing register backlog

49. In another complaint to us about the Council’s delay processing housing register applications, it provided us with details of its action plan in August 2023 to clear the backlog by the end of November 2023. It also said it was introducing new systems to improve the way it processes applications. In view of this, and the Council’s confirmation its current processing time is eight weeks on average, I have not recommended any further action by the Council now.

My view – was there fault by the Council causing injustice?

Delay in processing Ms Y’s housing register application

50. Although there is no statutory timescale for processing housing applications, we would normally expect this to happen within eight weeks. As Ms Y made her application in July 2021, this means the Council should have completed its assessment and decided whether to accept her application and her priority banding by October 2021.
51. But the Council had still not processed Ms Y’s application by September 2022. There was a continuing delay until October 2023 when it finally confirmed she was now on the housing register, in Band 2.
52. This continuing delay from September 2022 to October 2023 was fault.

Impact of delays on offers of housing

53. The Council has confirmed that had Ms Y been placed on the housing register by September 2022 it is probable, based on her likely position in the shortlisting queue and the available properties, she would have been offered social housing from 25 April 2023 onwards.
54. But for the delay, it seems likely, in my view, Ms Y and her daughter would have had a secure suitable home in permanent social housing by the end of May 2023, and not had to go through the homelessness situation they found themselves in at the end of June 2023.
55. Instead, Ms Y had to wait a further year for an offer of social housing. And during this time, after having to leave the overcrowded accommodation, she endured a long period of homelessness and unsuitable interim and temporary accommodation.

Delay in accepting Ms Y’s homelessness application

56. The Council has accepted, and I agree, it should have taken a homelessness application from Ms Y in June 2023.
57. I consider it was clear from her contact on 13 June she and her child would be homeless in a couple of weeks. It was fault by the Council not to take a homelessness application from Ms Y then and start making its inquiries at that stage.

Impact of this fault

58. Had it taken the homelessness application on 13 June, based on the information it had about Ms Y’s circumstances at that time, I consider it likely it would have decided it owed the duty to provide her with interim accommodation at the end of June, when she had to leave her previous accommodation.
59. Because of the delay caused by its fault, Ms Y was not provided with interim accommodation until 18 September.
60. Ms Y has told us, because of the Council’s delay in providing her with interim accommodation, she and her young child had to spend the period from the end of June until 18 September either sleeping in her car, sofa surfing or staying with different friends in overcrowded accommodation. This must have been a very worrying and distressing period for Ms Y.
61. Our guidance on remedies says where a complainant has been deprived of suitable accommodation, we are likely to recommend financial redress in the range of £150 to £350 a month. Where the injustice is exceptional, we may recommend an additional payment to acknowledge the distress caused.
62. I consider a remedy towards the top end of our range would be appropriate here.

Delay in moving Ms Y to suitable accommodation

63. The Council has explained why it had to place Ms Y in B&B accommodation initially and that it could not move her to self-contained accommodation within the six-week timeframe because of the severe shortage of housing options within its local area.
64. I understand the difficulties the Council faced here and continues to face in other cases. We recognise that councils cannot always fulfil their “immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified” duty to provide suitable temporary accommodation due to the increasing number of homeless applicants and the short supply of properties.
65. In these cases, we are likely to find that the failure to provide suitable accommodation is service failure, provided the Council is taking reasonable steps to increase the supply and mitigate the impact on individual households. Service failure is fault, but means the situation is due to circumstances beyond the Council’s control.
66. I am pleased to note the action the Council has taken to put in place a new system to improve monitoring of households in temporary accommodation and shared accommodation.
67. But, in my view, the failure to move Ms Y to suitable accommodation within the six-week timeframe was fault by the Council due to service failure.

Impact of this service failure

68. This service failure meant Ms Y spent 10 weeks in B&B accommodation – 4 more weeks than the maximum timeframe.
69. Our guidance on remedies says we may recommend a remedy of up to £200 a week for each week over the six- week limit spent in unsuitable B&B accommodation. In this I consider it appropriate to recommend a payment towards the top end of this range.

Delay in deciding the main housing duty

70. I also consider the fault in failing to take Ms Y’s homelessness application sooner caused a delay in making the decision it owed her the main housing duty.
71. Had it started making its inquiries on 13 June, I consider it likely the Council would have it accepted it owed Ms Y the relief duty by the beginning of July. It should then have made its decision about the main housing decision 56 days later – by about the end of August.
72. Instead, Ms Y had to wait until 15 October – a further six weeks – before the Council decided it owed her the main duty. This caused her a further period of uncertainty and worry.

Agreed action

73. To remedy the injustice caused by the above faults and, within four weeks from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. apologise to Ms Y for its failures and delays: processing her housing register application; taking her homelessness application; providing her with interim accommodation and moving her to suitable accommodation; and making the main housing duty decision. This apology should be in line with our guidance on Making an effective apology
2. pay Ms Y £150 to recognise the impact on her of having to continue to live in overcrowded accommodation in June 2023.
3. pay Ms Y £800 to recognise the impact on her of the 2.5 months she and her child spent in unsuitable accommodation while homeless, before the Council provided them with interim accommodation;
4. pay Ms Y £350 to recognise the impact on her of the further 4 weeks she and her child spent in B&B accommodation beyond the maximum 6 week period; and
5. pay Ms Y £ 1,000 to reflect the upset, worry and uncertainty caused by the Council’s failures and delays. This is a symbolic amount based on our guidance on remedies.
74. And within three months from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:

• review its guidance to officers about the Council’s duties (as set out in paragraphs 15 & 16) to take homelessness applications and make inquiries into the applicant’s homelessness;
• review its procedures to ensure it does not have ‘gatekeeping’ practices in place, for example, failing to take a homelessness application at the earliest opportunity; and
• share the learning from this case with its officers.

75. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

76. I have completed my investigation and found fault by the Council causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take the above actions as a suitable way to remedy this injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman