Maidstone Borough Council (23 014 653)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr B says the Council failed to process his housing register and homeless applications. There is no fault in how the Council dealt with Mr B’s applications.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr B, complained the Council failed to process his housing register and homeless applications.
- Mr B says as a result he has experienced worry about obtaining accommodation.
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
- As part of the investigation, I have:
- considered the complaint and Mr B's comments;
- made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
- Mr B and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
The Council’s allocation scheme
- The Council’s allocation scheme (the scheme) says to be accepted onto the register all applicants must meet the two qualifying criteria. These are local connection and housing need. It says applicants will not be accepted on to the housing register until all the requested information has been provided. It says incomplete new applications will not be processed and the applicant will be contacted to provide the required information. The applicant will be given 28 days to provide all their relevant information; otherwise, the application will be declined. Applicants owed a homelessness duty may be given a further 28 days to provide all their relevant information at the discretion of the caseworker.
- The scheme says to access the housing register applicants need to fulfil at least one of the local connection criteria. That includes:
- Resident – the applicant has been residing within Maidstone Borough for a continuous period of two years immediately prior to the application;
- Family - the applicant must have immediate family that has been residing within Maidstone Borough for a continuous period of five years immediately prior to the application;
- Returning Resident – the applicant must have been residing in the borough for a continuous period of at least two of the last five years and may not currently live within Maidstone Borough. The only exception to this are applicants released from prison where their sentence exceeds five years. The Senior Homechoice Officer may accept an applicant as being a returning resident in exceptional circumstances.
The homelessness code of guidance (the guidance)
- Paragraph 11.3 says every person applying for assistance from a housing authority stating they are or are going to be homeless will require an initial interview. If there is reason to believe they may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days the housing authority must carry out an assessment to determine if this is the case, and whether they are eligible for assistance. If the applicant is not eligible for assistance or if the authority is satisfied they are not homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, they must be given a written section 184 notification of the decision reached.
- Paragraph 11.4 says in some circumstances it will be possible to determine an applicant is not threatened with homelessness at first approach, but in most cases further enquires will need to be carried out to find out more about their housing circumstances before being satisfied they are not threatened with homelessness within 56 days. If the applicant believes they are threatened with homelessness and there is reason to believe this is the case further investigations will be required.
- Paragraph 11.8 says when assessing the circumstances leading to a threat of homelessness housing authorities will need applicants to provide all relevant information to inform their assessment. This will usually include enquiring into their accommodation history at least as far back as their last settled address, and the events that led to them being threatened with or becoming homeless.
- Paragraph 18.14 recommends housing authorities have procedures in place for dealing with applications that are withdrawn or where someone fails to maintain contact with the housing authority after making an application. The Secretary of State considers it reasonable to consider an application closed where the applicant has not responded to any form of contact for 56 days or longer. Any further approach from the applicant after this time may need to be considered as a fresh application. Where an applicant renews contact within 56 days the housing authority will need to consider any change of circumstances that may affect the application.
- Paragraph 18.34 says if a housing authority has reason to believe a person applying for assistance may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, the housing authority must make such inquiries as are necessary to satisfy itself whether the applicant is eligible for assistance and if so, whether any duty, and if so what duty, is owed to that person. When a housing authority has completed its inquiries it must notify the applicant in writing of its decisions.
What happened
- On 17 April 2023 the Council received a housing register application from Mr B and a further identical application in May 2023. The Council asked for further evidence to support the claim of a local connection and housing need. The Council asked Mr B to provide the requested information by 22 June. The Council closed the application on 18 July as Mr B had not provided the information requested.
- Mr B put in a further housing register application and homeless application on 15 September. Mr B referred to an application in another area and the Council contacted that area for further information. When the Council received a response this identified Mr B had given different previous residence details which suggested he was living with his brother in another area.
- A Council officer interviewed Mr B about his homeless application on 12 October 2023. During that interview Mr B declined to provide phone numbers to verify his housing situation and provided conflicting information to that which the Council had received from the other area.
- On 27 October 2023 the Council received further housing register and homeless applications from Mr B.
- The Council contacted Mr B on 1 November to ask him to provide more information about his address history for the last five years. The Council said it would accept the last six months bank statements for all accounts he held to evidence the connection to Maidstone. The Council also asked Mr B whether he had engaged with any services in Maidstone in the last six months and, if so, for him to provide the details. The Council explained it was not currently satisfied Mr B was homeless and was therefore minded to make a not homeless decision as it could not verify he had been sleeping rough in Maidstone. The Council said if a duty was owed it would likely refer the case back to the area where he appeared to have lived for three of the last five years. The Council asked Mr B to provide the details by 8 November.
- On 13 November Mr B asked the Council to withdraw his homeless application. The Council closed the homeless application and told Mr B he could request a review of that decision within 21 days.
- On 28 November Mr B put in a further homeless application which the Council acknowledged. Mr B withdrew the application the following day.
Analysis
- Mr B says the Council failed to process his housing register and homeless applications properly. For the housing register applications, I am satisfied the Council took action on those applications by asking Mr B to provide further information about his address history. The evidence I have seen satisfies me the Council asked Mr B for that information on multiple occasions but Mr B failed to provide the information. As the Council needs Mr B to provide evidence of a local connection before it can decide whether to place him on the housing register I have no grounds to criticise the Council here. I am satisfied it is Mr B’s failure to provide the required information that means the Council has not been able to make a decision about whether he qualifies to join the housing register.
- For Mr B’s homeless applications I note he put in applications on 15 September 2023, 27 October 2023 and 28 November 2023. Under the guidance the Council should have issued a formal decision on those applications to give Mr B a right of appeal. However, I am satisfied the Council closed all three applications at Mr B’s request as he asked to withdraw them. I therefore cannot criticise the Council for failing to process those applications to decision.
Final decision
- I have completed my investigation and do not uphold the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman