Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed acting on his homelessness application and he and his family were placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation. We found there were delays in acting on his application and Mr X’s family were placed in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation for 35 weeks longer than appropriate. We recommended an apology and a payment to recognise the impact of this.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council delayed acting on his homelessness application and he and his family were placed in unsuitable emergency bed and breakfast accommodation for around nine months. For a long period, this accommodation was also in a different borough.
2. Mr X has young children and the unsuitable accommodation caused a great deal of stress, frustration and hardship.

Back to top

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. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered the comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

The prevention duty

7. 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).
8. Section 188 of the Housing Act places a duty on councils to arrange interim accommodation as soon as the authority has reason to believe that an applicant may be eligible, homeless and in priority need.

The relief duty

9. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation once someone eligible becomes homeless. 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

10. If a council is satisfied someone is eligible, homeless, in priority need and unintentionally homeless it will owe them the main housing duty.
11. Once a council has accepted the main housing duty, any interim accommodation being provided ceases to be interim and becomes temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193). The suitability of temporary accommodation has a right of review and appeal. Interim accommodation does not.

Suitability of Interim and Temporary Accommodation

12. 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 both interim and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2).
13. Councils must consider the location of accommodation when they consider its suitability. If a council places an applicant outside its district, it must consider, among other matters:

• the distance of the accommodation from the “home” district;
• the significance of any disruption to the education of members of the applicant’s household; and
• the proximity and accessibility to local services, amenities and transport. (Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2012).

14. Bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation can only be used to accommodate 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)

What Happened

15. In March 2024 Mr X presented to the Council as he and his family were threatened with homelessness. Mr X’s family included his wife and his two daughters. His daughters attended schools in Waltham Forest.
16. A housing needs assessment in March 2024 recorded that no Disability and Health Questionnaire (DHQ) was required or had been completed.
17. The Council accepted a homelessness prevention duty, and it issued a Personalised Housing Plan. I understand officers spoke to family members to attempt to prevent homelessness, but this was unsuccessful.
18. From 27 April, when Mr X became homeless, the Council provided interim accommodation at a hotel (Hotel 1). The accommodation had no cooking facilities.
19. On 30 April (after 56 days) the Council accepted a Homelessness Relief Duty. It sent a letter confirming this which set out Mr X’s rights of review.
20. Mr X and his family remained at Hotel 1 for 58 days until 24 June. The Council then provided accommodation at a different hotel (Hotel 2). Hotel 2 was outside the borough of Waltham Forest. It had a shared kitchen facilities. However, these were on a different floor to Mr X’s accommodation. Both of the hotels provided by the Council constituted B&B accommodation under the relevant regulations.
21. On 27 June Mr X’s daughter’s school sent an email directly to the Council explaining that she had Special Educational Needs (SEN) and an EHC Plan. The school explained the difficulty she faced getting to school from Hotel 2, which was in another borough, and the importance of her continued attendance.
22. There is no indication that the Council considered or acted on the information it received confirming Mr X’s daughter has SEN.
23. On 28 June Mr X contacted the Council to question why the Council had not yet decided if it owed them a main housing duty. He noted they had accepted a relief duty over 56 days earlier, so a decision on a main duty now needed to be made.
24. On 1 July Mr X asked for a review of the suitability of their accommodation. As part of the review request Mr X emphasised that his daughter had SEN and he referred to the difficulties of both the accommodation and the distance from his children’s schools. The Council told him no appeal was possible because the accommodation it provided was Interim Accommodation provided under Section 188(1) of the Housing Act. However, a housing officer stated it had passed his concerns to another team to review. The Council provided no evidence anyone had considered his concerns.
25. During July Mr X told the Council about his daughter’s SEN and tried to update the details of his application to record this. He could not make changes because his access to the housing allocations system was suspended. There is evidence he raised this with the Council. It appears this was caused by the suspension of his original bidding reference number and the allocation of a new reference. I have referred to other implications of this in paragraph 32 below.
26. On 23 August Mr X was contacted by a new case worker. They asked Mr X to submit DHQ forms for his wife and daughter, which he did on 27 August.
27. On 27 August the Council says it notified Mr X that the relief duty had ended and it would now consider if a main housing duty was owed to him. A letter stating this exists on the Council’s records (reportedly sent to Mr X’s email address) but Mr X says the letter was not received. The Council sent us a summary of its case notes. These records do not record the letter being sent.
28. On 6 November the Council wrote to Mr X accepting a main housing duty to him. Mr X remained in Hotel 2, which became Temporary Accommodation.
29. The Council told us the delay in accepting a main housing duty was most likely caused by having only a skeleton staff at that time, staff illness and staff leaving. The Council says when Mr X’s case worker left, they had not completed the necessary enquiries on his case. These included assessments of vulnerability on medical grounds and the suitability of their temporary accommodation.
30. In November, Mr X asked for a review of the suitability of his temporary accommodation. On 19 November the Council carried out the review, agreeing it was unsuitable. This was because it was bed and breakfast accommodation with shared facilities, and the family were overcrowded in one room. It also accepted as part of its decision that the Council should have prioritised finding them TA within the borough due to Mr X’s daughter’s SEN.
31. On 10 February 2025 Mr X was moved to alternative temporary accommodation which did not have shared facilities. This was within the borough.

Housing Priority

32. Mr X originally joined the housing register in April 2023, so he had an existing bidding reference (at Band 5 priority) when he presented as homeless in March 2024. It seems evident that in July 2024 the Council cancelled his existing bidding reference in favour of a new one created in 2024. The 2024 reference showed Mr X had higher, Band 3, priority. However, the priority/start date of an application also has a bearing on when an applicant may be successful in winning bids for properties. In response to our enquiries, the Council accepted that when it closed down the existing account, its records showed Mr X’s priority date was March 2024 and not April 2023 as should have been the case.
33. The Council has now updated its records to show the correct, earlier priority date. It acknowledged this date should not have been changed. However, it told us the difference in date had not caused Mr X to lose out on properties in the meantime.

Mr X’s complaint

34. Mr X raised a complaint with the Council about his temporary accommodation and the various issues with his housing application. The Council responded initially on 30 April. It sent a further response in November 2024. There was delay in the Council responding.
35. The Council recognised there had been delay in reaching decisions in Mr X’s case due to changes in the case officer and considerable pressure that the housing team were under. As part of its response, the Council assessed the suitability of Mr X’s temporary accommodation. It accepted the accommodation was not suitable because it was B&B accommodation which the family had been in for more than six weeks. The Council also agreed that Mr X’s daughter’s SEN should have resulted in priority for temporary accommodation within the borough.
36. The Council stated the Council was undertaking a far-reaching development programme with significant investment to improve things. It offered Mr X £75 to recognise there had been delay in allocating a new case officer which caused delays in his application.

Was there fault by the Council

37. The Homelessness Code of Guidance makes it clear that B&B accommodation should not be used for families unless there is no other option. When it has to be used, it must not be used for more than six weeks. The Council explained that, unfortunately, there is a significant shortage of accommodation in its area which necessitated use of B&B accommodation in Mr X’s case. I recognise the difficulties with housing availability in the council’s area, but in Mr X’s case his family were placed in B&B accommodation for a total of 41 weeks. This is 35 weeks longer than appropriate. This was fault by the Council.
38. Mr X explained that Hotel 1 had no cooking facilities which meant far higher food costs. Hotel 2 had shared cooking facilities but these were on another floor which was very difficult to manage and use given his children could not be left alone. There was significant injustice to the family as a result of this prolonged period in unsuitable accommodation.
39. To add to the difficulties that B&B accommodation presented, Hotel 2 was outside of the borough, some distance from his children’s schools. From the end of June there is evidence the Council were made aware of this. This should have prompted the Council to prioritise finding the family accommodation in the borough. There is no evidence that it did this. The Council failed to take account of the significant difficulty and disruption the location of the accommodation would cause to Mr X’s children’s education and his daughter’s SEN.
40. When we find that families have been placed in unsuitable B&B accommodation we recommend a weekly payment in the range of £100 to £200 per week. This payment is additional to reimbursement of any specific quantifiable costs that the homeless household incurred. Given Mr X’s daughter’s SEN, the difficulties with the shared facilities and the location of the Temporary Accommodation, I have recommended a payment of £7,000, based on £200 per week.
41. The Council accepts that it inappropriately changed Mr X’s priority date from 2023 to 2024. This too was fault. However, I am satisfied this has since been corrected.
42. Overall, there was also delay and, at times, a lack of communication. This appears to have been caused by low staffing and very high demand for housing and homelessness assistance. Although I recognise the pressure the Council was under, the delay and communication issues also represent fault and no doubt added to the frustration of the other fault we have identified. I note the Council has a change programme in place to address the issues with its service which is monitored monthly. As a result, I have not made any specific service improvement recommendations.

Back to top

Action

43. Within four weeks of our final decision the Council should:
44. Send a written apology to Mr X for the fault we have identified. The apology should adhere to our guidance on making effective apologies. This can be found on our website, within our Guidance on Remedy here.
45. Make a payment of £7,000 to recognise the unsuitable Bed and Breakfast accommodation Mr X’s family were placed in. In addition, the Council should invite Mr X to provide evidence of any specific quantifiable costs that his household incurred and it should reimburse the reasonable, specific quantifiable costs the family incurred.
46. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

47. I find fault causing injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman