Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s homelessness and housing applications. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council has not offered her permanent rehousing even though she has been accepted under the main housing duty under the homelessness legislation. She says she has only been made on offer of temporary accommodation which she rejected as being unsuitable. She also complained about lack of communication by the council during the past two years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says she has been accepted under the main housing duty since 2024 due to domestic violence and safety concerns for her and her family. She was offered temporary accommodation in 2024 but rejected this because she says she did not wish to pay rental for this and her existing tenancy notice period.
6. Miss X also rejected any offer of a one-bedroom temporary accommodation because she currently lives in private rented two-bedroom accommodation. The Council did not discharge its homelessness duty following the rejection and she remains eligible for temporary accommodation if she requests this.
7. The Council is seeking to rehouse her in permanent accommodation and she is on the housing register with the same priority as a homeless applicant as she would be in temporary accommodation. However, the Council has made it clear that this could take a long time given the current shortage of vacancies and large numbers of other homelessness cases.
8. There is no evidence that the failure to offer a vacancy to Miss X is fault. She is eligible for temporary accommodation and due to any threats of violence she would have to accept this outside her current location area if it was offered. She has chosen to remain in her current situation and the Council cannot alter this. She remains as a homeless applicant and she would be equally eligible for offers as she would if she had moved to temporary accommodation.
9. The Council accepted that its communications to Miss X in the past has been poor and offered her £150 in recognition of this. However, the failure to update her about the situation does not affect her position in terms of housing offers.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s homelessness and housing applications. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman