Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his homeless application. We find fault with the Council for delay, and have recommended a symbolic payment to Mr X for the frustration and distress caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his homeless application. He says the Council:

• failed to accept the relief duty;
• failed to offer him temporary accommodation;
• delayed completing a Personal Housing Plan (PHP); and
• delayed in deciding to give him the main housing duty.

2. Mr X would like an apology from the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 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)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I spoke with Mr X and the Council and considered the information it provided.
7. I considered relevant law and guidance, as set out below and our guidance on remedies, published on our website.
8. Mr X and the Council 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

Law and guidance

Homelessness

9. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
10. 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)

Assessments and Personal Housing Plans

11. 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 prevention duty

12. If a council is satisfied an applicant is threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, it must take steps to help the applicant keep their home or find somewhere new to live. In deciding what steps to take, a council must have regard to its assessment of the applicant’s case. (Housing Act 1996, section 195)

The relief duty

13. 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)

The main housing duty

14. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to make accommodation available (unless it refers the application to another housing authority under section 198). But councils will not owe the main housing duty to applicants who have turned down a suitable final accommodation offer or a Housing Act Part 6 offer made during the relief stage, or if a council has given them notice under section 193B(2) due to their deliberate and unreasonable refusal to co-operate. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)

Interim and Temporary Accommodation

15. There are two types of accommodation councils provide to certain homeless applicants: interim accommodation and temporary accommodation.
16. 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)
17. If a 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)
18. The duty to provide suitable accommodation is immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified. (Elkundi, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council [2022] EWCA Civ 601)

Review rights

19. Homeless applicants may request a review within 21 days of being notified of the various decisions. This includes:

• what duty (if any) is owed to them, including that no further duty is or will be owed because they are not in priority need;
• giving notice to bring the relief duty to an end.

The Council’s allocations policy

20. 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)).
21. Under the Council’s policy in force in August 2012, applicants to the housing register were placed in one of the following eight priority bands:

• Band A: Overriding medical priority, statutory overcrowding, housing health and safety hazards, reciprocals, exceptional circumstances and physical disabilities.
• Band B: Priority groups.
• Band C: Housing Association transfers.
• Band D: Special quotas.
• Band E: Accepted homeless households in Temporary Accommodation.
• Band F: Older persons accommodation.
• Band G: General housing register.
• Band H: Low priority applications.

What happened

22. In January 2023 Mr X approached the Council as homeless. He was on a joint tenancy but due to the breakup of his relationship the Court ordered the Housing Association to remove his name.
23. Mr X has full custody of his children. He was living with his ex-partner and her children in a two-bedroom property, which was overcrowded.
24. The Council asked to see the Court Order and saw Mr X for an assessment in March.
25. On the same day the Council wrote Mr X’s PHP which advised it accepted the duty to prevent homelessness.
26. In June Mr X met with a housing officer and said he was struggling to find suitable accommodation. The Council offered a rent deposit for a four-bedroom property and a three-bedroom property which he declined due to the locations being unsuitable. The Council did not discharge the prevention duty for these refusals.
27. On 18 July Mr X made a complaint to the Council as set out in paragraph one, and the Council responded on 29 July. It did not uphold his complaint.
28. In November Mr X told the Council he can continue to live with his ex-partner for a further two months as he wanted to secure local social housing. There was a review of his PHP which creates an automated email to Mr X. The Council discussed if he did become homeless it would place Mr X in Band E.
29. The Case Officer referred Mr X to a manager for inclusion in Band B on the 15 November. The manager asked for further information. There was a further submission for Band B status following further enquiries on the 7 February 2024.
30. The Council granted Band B status on 21 February 2024 and told Mr X on the same day.
31. On 2 May Mr X met with his housing officer to do an income and expenditure review to look into private rented housing as the waiting list for Band B was long.
32. On 13 June Mr X turned down a privately rented four-bedroom property as he did not want to claim benefits to help pay the rent.
33. Mr X presented to the Council as homeless on 7 August. The Council accepted it owed him the relief duty and provided him with interim accommodation. There was also a review of his PHP.
34. The Council accepted the main housing duty on 8 August and placed Mr X in Band E.
35. Mr X raised a stage two complaint in August 2024. He was not happy with the stage one response and asked the Council to review it.
36. The Council responded in September 2024. It said:
• Mr X presented as threatened with homelessness in January 2023. His duty assessment was in March. The Council apologised for the delay in assessing Mr X. The outcome of the assessment was the Council owed the prevention duty. It sent the PHP to Mr X. Although Mr X did not sign and return the PHP, the Council has no evidence Mr X disagreed with it. This complaint remains not upheld.
• The relief duty is owed when someone is homeless, not threatened with homelessness. The Council is satisfied the prevention duty was owed as opposed to the relief duty as Mr X remained at his ex-partner’s address, so there was no reason to provide interim accommodation. This compliant remains not upheld.
• Having reviewed the case notes the Council accept that a decision about awarding Mr X Band B could have been made quicker after his meeting in November 2023. However this did not cause Mr X any injustice as he would not have been successful in bidding for a suitable property. There were two reviews of Mr X’s March 2023 PHP, in November 2023 and August 2024. The Council apologised for not keeping Mr X updated during this time. This complaint is upheld as there was a delay in offering Band B and communications from the Council could have been better. The Council offered Mr X £200 in recognition of the frustration caused.
• The relief duty was not owed to Mr X until 7 August 2024 when he was homeless. The Council put him in interim accommodation and reviewed his PHP. The Council also wrote to advise it will accept the main duty when the relief duty expires on 2 October, however the Council failed to send this letter to Mr X. This will be remedied and sent to Mr X. This complaint remains not upheld.
37. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s response so he brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.
38. During our enquiries Mr X said his children’s teacher and his social worker sent letters to the Council about his housing, as his children were having to sleep on the floor.
39. The Council said it does not have any record of these letters, but does have a social worker report which said the children would benefit from larger accommodation and the Council accept that it was overcrowded.

Analysis

40. The Council did not consider Mr X to be homeless as he was staying in the property with his ex-partner where he had been living for 20 years.
41. I note Mr X refused at least three accommodations offered by the Council and the Council did not discharge its duty as a result. The Council were obliging to Mr X in this regard.
42. The Council accepted it should have awarded Mr X Band B earlier. This is fault by the Council only rectified as Mr X brought a complaint. However this did not cause injustice to Mr X as only two or three four-bedroom properties come up a year, and Mr X was 13th when he did bid on a Band B property.
43. The Council did not ask for the signed PHP from Mr X. The Council acknowledge that it should have done, as it could have checked Mr X’s understanding of its position and his review rights.
44. The prevention duty end letter and relief duty start letter was not sent to Mr X. This is fault by the Council.

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Agreed Action

45. Within one month of the final decision the Council should:
• Apologise to Mr X for the delay in finding suitable temporary accommodation. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Mr X £250 to acknowledge the frustration and distress caused by the delay in assessment, poor communication, not sending the relief duty letter and not checking for the signed PHP.
46. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

47. I find fault with the Council for delay in assessment, and delay in sending out the relief duty letter. I have recommended symbolic payment for the frustration and distress caused to Mr X.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman