Summary: There has been fault by the Council. The Council did not move a family to larger temporary accommodation once it identified they had become statutorily overcrowded after two younger children were born. An apology, payment and a new offer of temporary accommodation remedies the injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, complains the priority given to his housing register application is wrong. Mr X says that his family are overcrowded in the Temporary Accommodation they have been staying in and want to be moved to permanent accommodation.
2. Mr X says there is a leak in the flat that has not been properly fixed and it is affecting his families health as it is difficult to sleep without separate bedrooms.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, 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 read the papers put in by Mr X and discussed the complaint with him.
6. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and any supporting documents it provided.
7. Mr X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

8. The Council’s allocations policy has a banding system to decide priority. Band 1 is the highest priority, Band 4 the lowest. Within each band, priority is determined by a priority star system and the date of registration or band change on the housing register.
9. The priority star system awards one star for each of the following:
• People owed a statutory homelessness duty.
• People occupying statutory overcrowded housing.
• People who need to move on severe medical or welfare grounds.
• People who need to move to a particular location.
• A working household.
• Applicants undertaking a voluntary contribution.
10. Mr X applied for housing for his family in May 2020. At this point Mr X and his wife had one child. Mr X was placed in temporary accommodation by the Council. His family has been in three different properties, they moved into the current property in November 2021. Since then, Mr X has had two more children but is still living in the one bedroom flat.
11. In May 2020 the Council put Mr X’s housing application in Band 3, with a community and work priority star. The Council said that a mistake meant that a community instead of homelessness star was placed on his application, this has now been corrected and Mr X did not miss any offers of housing because of this error.
12. In July 2023 the Council decided the family were statutorily overcrowded. A property is statutorily overcrowded under part 10 of the Housing Act 1985 when either the Room Standard or the Space Standard is contravened. In its response to my enquiries the Council has said that ‘as homeless households increase their size and we are made aware of this, we will move them to alternative temporary accommodation’. The Council offered Mr X alternative temporary accommodation on 14 May 2024. Mr X declined this offer as it was on the third floor without a lift and he has three young children.
13. The Council has said that it does not intend to award a star for statutorily overcrowded housing or place Mr X in Band 1 due to Statutory overcrowding as it will offer Mr X a move to alternative temporary accommodation where he is not statutorily overcrowded. Mr X says he does not want to move again to temporary accommodation, he wants increased priority so he can move to a permanent home.
14. Mr X says the temporary accommodation is due to be demolished so the Council told him he needs to move out. Mr X says he only wants to move to permanent housing as he has to pay the costs of moving every time.

My analysis

Temporary Accommodation

15. The Council has accepted it is at fault. The Council has said that it delayed taking action to alleviate the overcrowding identified in July 2023. The Council has offered to apologise to Mr X and provide a financial remedy of £20 per week for the delay and distress caused until 14 May 2024 when a new property was offered, as well as £250 for Mr X’s time and trouble. This is a total of £1100. The Council is also willing to make a new offer of Temporary Accommodation to Mr X as he did not consider the last one suitable.
16. I understand that Mr X does not want to move to another Temporary Accommodation even if it relieves the overcrowding. However, the Ombudsman cannot suggest a remedy to the Council of offering Mr X permanent accommodation unless we can be sure he has missed out on an offer of permanent housing as a result of the Council’s fault. This is not the case here. We cannot ask the Council to give him priority above that he is entitled to from the Council’s allocations policy. This would disadvantage others who may have waited longer or have greater priority.
17. Mr X has complained about the lack of repairs to the Temporary Accommodation. The Council has said that Mr X needs to move from his current Temporary Accommodation as it is overcrowded and is due to be demolished. So, as part of the remedy to this complaint I consider the Council should make Mr X a suitable offer of Temporary Accommodation and pay his removal costs. I also consider a financial remedy for the time spent in overcrowded Temporary Accommodation is appropriate. There is nothing to prevent the Council considering whether it can offer Mr X permanent accommodation but the Ombudsman cannot propose this as a remedy.
18. Our guidance on remedies recommends a financial payment of between £150 to £350 per month for time spent in unsuitable accommodation. Mr X has been living with his wife and three children under 5 years old in a one bedroom flat since July 2023. I consider that a payment at the mid-point of the range is appropriate, of £250 per month. This would be £3500 for 14 months, along with the £250 already proposed by the Council for Mr X’s distress, a total of £3750. While I appreciate the Council offered a property in May 2024, a third floor flat with no lift would not seem to me to be a suitable offer for a family with 3 young children. However, if the Council has evidence to show this offer was suitable then I can reconsider the financial remedy.

Housing Register priority

19. I appreciate Mr X's main concern is to get permanent housing. So, I will consider separately whether there has been any fault in the priority given to him on the housing register.
20. The Council’s allocations policy says that applicants should be in Band 1 if ‘applicants are statutorily overcrowded and have not caused this by a deliberate act’.
21. Mr X says his family should be in Band 1. The Council has said that it will not place Mr X in Band 1 as it will relieve the overcrowding from Mr X by providing more suitable Temporary Accommodation. The Temporary Accommodation was suitable for Mr X’s family when it was initially provided but as his family has grown, it is now overcrowded.
22. I accept the Council’s policy does say that households that are statutorily overcrowded should be in Band 1 or have a priority star added to Band 3. However, I also accept that as Mr X is in Temporary Accommodation, this overcrowding can be relieved by moving them. While I understand this is not what Mr X wants, it is a decision the Council is entitled to make. I do, however, think the Council’s policy could be clearer to explain that Band 1 or the star would not apply to households in Temporary Accommodation where a move will be offered to relieve the overcrowding. So, while I will recommend the Council clarifies this in its policy, I do not consider it was fault for the Council not to place Mr X’s application into Band 1 or give the application a priority star for overcrowding.
23. Mr X also believes the welfare star should be placed on his application. I asked the Council to explain how it assessed the families medical priority but have not received an explanation of how the decision has been made. The Council has told me it did not add the welfare star was as the family did not have any medical priority. Mr X has said the living conditions in the property have caused skin allergies to his daughter and I have not seen evidence to support the decision that this is not sufficient to award the welfare star. It may be that the decision will remain the same after a reassessment, but in order to ensure that the decision was made correctly I consider the families medical priority should be reassessed.

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Agreed action

24. Within one month of the date of the decision on this complaint the Council should:
• Apologise to Mr X.
• Pay Mr X £3750.
• Make Mr X a suitable offer of Temporary Accommodation (or Permanent Accommodation if the Council considers this to be more suitable).
• Agree in writing to pay Mr X’s removal costs or arrange the removal to new temporary or permanent accommodation.
• Reassess Mr X’s families medical priority and if the welfare star is awarded, backdate this to when Mr X first applied for medical priority.
25. Within two months of the date of the decision the Council should:
• Review its allocations policy to clarify Band 1 or the overcrowding star will not be applied to households where the overcrowding can be relieved by moving the family to larger Temporary Accommodation.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

27. I have completed my investigation of this complaint. This complaint is upheld as there was fault by the Council. The actions above remedy the injustice to Mr X.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman