Summary: there was fault in the way the Council assessed Ms Y’s housing and support needs when she was homeless. It also failed to properly consider her concerns about being placed in interim accommodation which she said was unsuitable for her family’s needs. This caused Ms Y extra distress at a difficult time in her life.

The complaint

1. Mr X is Ms Y’s representative. He made this complaint with her consent.
2. Mr X complained that the Council did not carry out an adequate assessment of Ms Y’s housing and support needs when she requested homelessness assistance in June 2023. As a result, it arranged interim accommodation in two hotels both of which were unsuitable for the family’s needs.
3. Ms Y lived apart from her children for almost seven weeks because, due to their autism and specific needs, they could not share a family room in the hotel. Ms Y incurred extra costs during her stay in the hotel because there were no cooking facilities and she had extra travel expenses.
4. Mr X also says the Council did not respond to the complaint he made on Ms Y’s behalf within the timescales set out in its complaints procedure.
5. Mr X wants the Council to apologise to Ms Y and pay compensation. He also wants the Council to learn lessons from the way it handled Ms Y’s case and improve the service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. 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

7. I have spoken to Mr X and considered the information he sent me.
8. I considered the Council’s response to my enquiries and the housing records. I took into account relevant law and statutory guidance.
9. Mr X and the council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

The relevant law

Assessments and Personal Housing Plans
 

10. 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. (Housing Act 1996, section 189A and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 11.6 and 11.18)

The relief duty
 

11. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B).
12. The relief duty lasts for 56 days. If the applicant is still homeless at the end of that period, councils must go on to consider whether they owe the main housing duty.

The duty to arrange interim accommodation (section 188)

13. A council must secure interim accommodation for an applicant and their household if it has reason to believe the applicant may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
     

Suitability of accommodation

14. 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 accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)

15. The Code of Guidance on Homelessness says councils must assess whether accommodation is suitable for each household individually, and case records should demonstrate that they have taken the statutory requirements into account in securing the accommodation.

Bed and breakfast placements

16. 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.

17. B&B is defined as 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). From 31 May 2023 the definition was amended to include accommodation with no cooking facilities.

Ms Y’s circumstances

18. Ms Y has two teenage children, a son and daughter, whom I shall call B and C. They used to live in private rented accommodation in the Chichester district very close to the boundary with “Council A”. Ms Y is supported by friends and relatives who live in Council A’s area. Her GP and B’s school was also in Council A’s area.

19. B has autism and C was waiting to be assessed. B had recently taken exams at a school in Council A’s area, close to Ms Y’s rented property. He planned to stay on at the school for post-16 studies. Ms Y says B could manage the bus journey from home to school because he was familiar with the route. But he struggles to manage change and would not be able to travel independently to school by bus from a different location. Ms Y had withdrawn C from school, and was educating her at home, while she looked for another school that could meet her special educational needs.

20. Ms Y is partially sighted and does not drive. She has several other long-term conditions which affect her physical and mental health.

The Council’s supply of interim and temporary accommodation for homeless households

21. The Council owns 61 units of self-contained accommodation in Chichester which it uses as interim and temporary accommodation for homeless households. They are a mix of single person and family sized units. However the demand for temporary accommodation outstrips this provision. The Council spot purchases additional emergency accommodation from approved providers of Bed and Breakfast and commercial hotels.

22. The Council says it is entirely dependent on what accommodation is available on any given day. It must accept the providers’ rules and regulations. In this case, it understood it would be challenging for Ms Y and her family to share a family room, but the hotel did not allow someone under 18 to be the sole occupier of a room.

23. The Council told us it aims to ensure all homeless applicants placed in B&B accommodation, and families in particular, are moved to self-contained accommodation as soon as possible. Officers review the availability of accommodation on a daily basis to provide emergency accommodation to new applicants, and to move households already in B&B hotels to suitable, self-contained provision. In Ms Y’s case, this review started on the day she moved to interim accommodation and continued throughout the time she was in the hotel.

What happened

24. Ms Y had approached the Council for housing assistance in March 2022 when her landlord issued a Section 21 notice. An officer did a telephone interview with her then and completed a housing needs assessment. The Council accepted the prevention duty on 28 March. Ms Y was placed in Band B on the Housing Register so she could bid for social housing.

25. The County Court did not make a Possession Order until mid-April 2023.

26. On a homelessness application form, Ms Y had described B’s specific needs due to his autism. He gets very anxious near other people. He likes to be in his own room and does not like to share personal space with other people. He has sleeping difficulties.

27. In early June 2023 Mr X wrote to the Council on Ms Y’s behalf. In his letter, he described the family’s specific needs due to their health conditions and disabilities. In particular, he highlighted:

• Ms Y’s poor health, including her medical conditions and sight impairment;
• Ms Y could not drive;
• Her children’s special needs due to autism and a condition which affects their physical health;
• The importance for Ms Y of being close to her support network of family and friends in Council A’s area;
• Ms Y’s need to be near her GP and B’s school which were both in Council A’s area.

28. On 21 July an officer asked the bookings team whether it would be possible to secure self-contained emergency accommodation for Ms Y in view of her vulnerabilities and support needs. There is no evidence of a reply in the case notes. The Council told us officers were reviewing the availability of self-contained accommodation for Ms Y on a daily basis.
29. On 25 July a case officer completed a housing needs assessment without interviewing Ms Y. She said Ms Y needed a three bedroom property. She referred to the children’s special needs but gave no further details. She did not record the location of B’s school. Under the heading “support needs”, she said the children were awaiting assessments. The fact that B already had a diagnosis of autism was not mentioned. There was no information about Ms Y’s health issues and sight impairment.
30. On the same day the officer created a relief duty PHP. She noted the date for the bailiffs to execute the warrant for eviction had not yet been confirmed. The PHP said the relief duty would last for 56 days from 25 July until 19 September. It did not record any housing or support needs. The sections in the PHP which should record the steps the Council and Ms Y would take to try to secure accommodation were blank.
31. Mr X says Ms Y did not receive the relief duty housing assessment and PHP. In response to my enquiries, the Council sent me the case records. These show the PHP was updated on 25 July and an email, including a link to the PHP, was sent to Ms Y on the same day to inform her.
32. A Housing Adviser tried to call Ms Y on 26 July to discuss arrangements for temporary accommodation. A senior case officer also tried to call her on 26 August. The case notes say officers left messages for Ms Y. Ms Y says she prefers to communicate by email rather than telephone due to an anxiety condition.

33. The Council accepts there should have been direct telephone or face to face contact with Ms Y at this stage to review her circumstances. It said it is currently reviewing resources in the service to ensure officers’ caseloads are maintained at a level which will enable them to work more effectively to help and support customers.

34. The Council did not create a letter to notify Ms Y that it had accepted the relief duty until 11 September. Mr X says Ms Y never received this letter.

35. In early September 2023 Ms Y successfully bid for a social housing property in one of her preferred areas. But the Housing Association had to do works at the property before Ms Y could move in. These would not be completed before the eviction date.

36. Mr X contacted the Council on 13 September to reiterate that Ms Y’s children could not share a room with her due to B’s autism and C’s suspected autism. He said B’s behaviour was unpredictable. He could break down, attack family members and break things in unfamiliar surroundings. The case officer replied that the Council knew about B’s diagnosis but a family room had already been booked. The provider would not allow a child to stay in a room on their own.

37. In response to my enquiries, the Council says it understood it would be challenging for them to share a family room. But there were no vacancies at the time in the Council’s self-contained temporary accommodation.

38. Ms Y went to the hotel on 19 September, the day the bailiffs were due to execute the warrant for eviction. When she arrived, she was very upset to find out that, due to an error, the room reserved for her had been given to another customer. She said the receptionist spoke to her rudely. Ms Y said that a guest, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs, accosted her. She called the Out of Hours service to ask for help.

39. The duty officer contacted the hotel who confirmed there was no room for Ms Y. He offered to book her into another hotel. Ms Y said she would stay with a friend for one night instead. Her children were not with her and stayed elsewhere that night. Ms Y sent an email to the case officer on 20 September to complain about the conduct of the receptionist and hotel guest. She questioned whether it was a safe and suitable place for vulnerable people and families.

40. The Council accepts there was a breakdown in communication about the hotel booking. The duty officer apologised to Ms Y for this error at the time. The Council repeated the apology when it replied to Mr X’s subsequent complaint.

41. The family room had a private bathroom but no fridge or cooking facilities. It was therefore Bed and Breakfast accommodation and subject to the six week maximum time limit for families with dependent children.

42. Ms Y said B refused to share a family room with her and his sister and never stayed at the hotel. She had told the Council in advance this would happen. He went to stay with a friend’s family and with his father instead. Ms Y said her daughter stayed for a few nights at the hotel but spent most of the time at a centre she attends for therapy. She did not have proper sleeping accommodation there.

43. Ms Y asked the Council if B could have his own bedroom at the hotel. The Council told her the hotel would not let a guest under 18 be in sole occupation of a room. Ms Y says this refers to unaccompanied minors and she would have been able to supervise B.

44. I have seen no evidence that the Council reviewed the case again on 19 September, 56 days after it accepted the relief duty, to decide whether to accept the main housing duty.
45. Ms Y contacted the Council again on 25 September to say her son would not stay in the family room. She asked where he could stay. I found no evidence that the Council replied.
46. On 4 October Ms Y contacted the Council to say she was running out of money due to the extra costs of food and bus fares. She was struggling to do laundry because she did not drive and there were no facilities at the hotel. An officer contacted Ms Y to offer her a voucher for a food bank or supermarket. In response to my enquiries, the Council said Ms Y received two supermarket vouchers with a total value of £350 to help with food costs while she was at the hotel.

47. On 24 October the Council offered Ms Y a self-contained two bedroom flat at one of its own sites as interim accommodation. Ms Y refused this offer for the following reasons:
• She expected to get keys to the Housing Association property in the next few days and to move the following week. So it was not worth the upheaval of moving to alternative interim accommodation for a very short time;
• Her son would not share a bedroom with his sister in the self-contained flat;
• It would be difficult for her to adjust to a new environment because she is partially sighted;
• The self-contained accommodation was in Chichester but further from Council A’s area and involved an extra bus journey. That would increase Ms Y’s travel expenses;
• The hotel was more conveniently located for a bus route to Council A’s area.

48. Between 26 and 31 October, Ms Y stayed at another hotel in West Sussex. She then stayed for a few days with a close relative. The tenancy of the Housing Association property started on 26 October but Ms Y did not move in until the shower and gas supply were working. She and her children moved in on 2 November. The Council ended the relief duty on the same day.

The Council’s general comments

49. The Council says it recognises the need to improve quality monitoring and reviews of PHPs and this work is already underway.

50. The service is also undergoing a review to ensure it has sufficient resources to maintain caseloads at a level which will enable case officers to work more effectively to help and support customers.

Complaint-handling

51. Mr X says the Council did not reply to the complaints he made on Ms Y’s behalf within the timescales in its complaints procedure.

52. The complaints procedure has two stages. At the first stage, a reply should be sent within ten working days. At the second stage, a reply should be sent within fifteen working days.

53. On 24 September Mr X emailed a letter of complaint to the Council about the way it had handled Ms Y’s case and accommodation needs. The complaint was not picked up and registered immediately because the officer who received it was absent. The Council replied on 24 October - 21 working days later.

54. Mr X was not satisfied with the Stage One response so he escalated his complaint to the next stage on 28 October. This complaint was registered on the next working day – 30 October. The Council replied on 20 November - 15 working days later.

My analysis

55. I intend to find that the Council did not carry out a proper assessment of Ms Y’s housing and support needs. It did not properly consider and respond to her concerns about the suitability of the hotel accommodation. I propose to find the following specific faults:
• Ms Y should have been interviewed at the relief duty stage to review her circumstances and update her housing and support needs;
• The Council should not have relied on the interview done in late March 2022 at the prevention duty stage. This was out of date by July 2023 and Ms Y’s circumstances had changed;
• The assessment and PHP created on 25 July was not properly completed. It did not record all the family’s housing and support needs, including needs relating to their disabilities. It did not set out what steps the Council would take to help Ms Y secure accommodation or the steps it expected her to take;
• A letter accepting the relief duty was not created until 12 September 2023. This should have been done when the Council accepted the relief duty on 25 July. I have seen no evidence that this letter was sent to Ms Y. So she was not formally notified of the change in duty or what the Council would do to help her secure accommodation. It also means she was not informed of her right to request a review if she wished to challenge the decision or the content of the PHP;
• After 56 days at the relief duty stage, the Council should have considered in mid-September whether it owed Ms Y the main housing duty. It did not do this. Instead the relief duty continued until Ms Y moved to the Housing Association property in early November;
• Without a full assessment and written record of the family’s housing and support needs, the Council could not properly assess if the interim accommodation at the hotel was suitable for Ms Y’s family as a short-term emergency placement bearing in mind their individual needs;
• There is no evidence that the Council assessed the suitability of the interim accommodation at the hotel for Ms Y’s family before it made the placement. Nor did it consider the concerns Mr X and Ms Y repeatedly raised that the family room was not suitable because of B’s specific needs. These further contacts should have triggered a suitability assessment;
• In terms of meeting the legal duty, it was not sufficient to say it offered the best accommodation available on the day Ms Y needed it. We recognise it is challenging for the Council to procure enough interim accommodation to meet the rising demand from homeless households. But, regardless of the supply issue, there is a legal duty to ensure any interim accommodation provided is suitable for the household’s needs. We therefore expect to see a written record of a suitability assessment in every case.
• The Council made an error with the hotel booking. Ms Y was clearly upset when she arrived at the hotel and had to leave. She chose to stay overnight with a friend rather than go to another hotel in a different area. The Council should have responded to her complaint about the conduct of the receptionist.
• Ms Y spent six weeks and one day in bed and breakfast accommodation. This exceeded the six week limit for B&B placements for families by one day.
• I have taken into account that the Council offered to move Ms Y to self-contained temporary accommodation on 25 October. This would have been an improvement on the bed and breakfast hotel because it had more space and cooking facilities. However I understand why Ms Y decided not to accept the offer because her move to the Housing Association property was imminent by then. She moved in one week later.
• The Council exceeded its timescale for replying to Mr X’s Stage One complaint by eleven days but it replied to his Stage Two complaint on time. The apology already given to Mr X is a suitable remedy for the delay at Stage One.
56. These faults had an impact on Ms Y and her children at a particularly difficult and stressful time in their lives. She felt the Council had not properly assessed her housing and support needs or give proper consideration to her concerns about the suitability of the interim accommodation and the impact this had on her family life.

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Agreed action

57. Within one month of my final decision, the Council will:
• Arrange for a senior manager to apologise in writing to Ms Y for the impact of the faults identified in this investigation;
• Make a symbolic payment of £350 to recognise the distress and worry this caused;
• Share the key learning points from this investigation in a briefing session with officers in the Housing Options service who handle homelessness cases;
• Send us an action plan setting out the steps it will take to ensure case officers carry out thorough assessments of applicants’ housing and support needs and keep cases under regular review as they move through the prevention, relief and main housing duty stages;
• Remind all case officers of the legal duty to:
1. assess the suitability of interim accommodation and make a record of the assessment;
2. send letters to applicants to notify them of the acceptance and end of housing duties and log the dates the letters are sent in the case records.
58. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

59. I have completed the investigation and found the Council was at fault and this caused injustice to Ms Y. The Council has accepted my findings and agreed to provide a suitable personal remedy for Ms Y and make service improvements.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman