Summary: We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide interim accommodation for Mr X when he left prison, causing him to be street homeless. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by apologising, paying Mr X £1,600 and making improvements to its service.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council failed to provide him with interim accommodation when he left prison and as a result he became street homeless for two months.
2. Mr X wants the Council to acknowledge its errors and take action to prevent this happening to others in future.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. I considered our Guidance on Remedies.

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My assessment

Housing law and guidance

Interim accommodation

7. 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)
8. Examples of applicants in priority need include people who are vulnerable due to serious health problems or disability.

The relief duty

9. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. This is called the relief duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)

Main housing duty

10. 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)

My findings

11. The Council’s case records show that when Mr X applied to the Council as homeless upon leaving prison, it decided he may be homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need. It therefore had a duty to provide him with interim accommodation.
12. The Council accepted a relief duty to Mr X but did not provide any accommodation. Instead it told Mr X to make his own arrangements while it continued its enquiries into his homelessness application and requested further risk assessments. Mr X had nowhere to stay, so he was street homeless for two months. After that time he secured his own accommodation.
13. The Council said its medical advisors had recommended that he was unlikely to be in priority need due to his health conditions. However it later accepted that its medical advisors had failed to identify Mr X’s key diagnoses when they gave that advice.
14. We asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Mr X by its failure to provide interim accommodation, by apologising, paying a financial remedy and taking action to prevent recurrence of this fault in future. The Council has agreed to do this.
15. I have not investigated whether the Council should have gone on to accept a main housing duty at the end of the relief duty period, as this relies on the Council being satisfied, rather than having reason to believe, that Mr X was homeless, eligible and in priority need. I cannot say, even on balance, what the Council would have decided in these circumstances. Therefore there is no worthwhile outcome achievable through further investigation into this point specifically.

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Agreed action

16. Within one month of the date of the final decision the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mr X for the two months he spent street homeless when he should have been provided with interim accommodation; and
2. Pay Mr X £1,600 to reflect the injustice caused.
17. Within three months of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Review this case to identify what led to important medical information being missed by its medical advisors and outline what action it has taken to prevent this issue affecting applicants in future; and
2. Remind all housing staff that where it has identified that an applicant may be eligible, homeless and in priority need, it is the Council’s duty to then provide interim accommodation. It should not ask the applicant to make their own arrangements while it completes in enquiries, including where the Council is obtaining risk assessments.

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Final decision

18. We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide interim accommodation because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman