Summary: Ms X complains about how the Council dealt with her homelessness complaint. The Council is at fault as it delayed in considering if it owed a homelessness duty to Ms X and then did not notify her of its decision. It also did not take sufficient action to offer interim accommodation to her. As a result, Ms X has lived in unsuitable accommodation for longer than necessary. The Council has agreed to remedy Ms X’s injustice by apologising to her, making a symbolic payment of £2100, accepting the main housing duty and offering temporary accommodation to her.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council failed to accept a homelessness application from her. She also complains that the Council failed to progress her application and offer interim accommodation after it upheld her complaints. Ms X says that as a result she was placed at risk of domestic abuse for longer than necessary and caused significant distress which has affected her mental health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
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 have:

• Considered the complaint and the information provided by Ms X;
• Made enquiries of the Council and considered the information provided;
• Invited Ms X and the Council to comment on the draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

6. 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.
7. Someone is homeless if they have no accommodation or if they have accommodation, but it is not reasonable for them to continue to live there. (Housing Act 1996, Section 175)
8. Councils must complete an assessment if they are satisfied an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Code of Guidance says, rather than advise the applicant to return when homelessness is more imminent, the housing authority may wish to accept a prevention duty and begin to take reasonable steps to prevent 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)
9. If councils are satisfied applicants are threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, they must help the applicants to secure that accommodation does not stop being available for their occupation. In deciding what steps they are to take, councils must have regard to their assessments of the applicants’ cases. (Housing Act 1996, section 195)
10. 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)
11. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation (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)
12. 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)
13. 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)

What happened

14. The following is a summary of the key events relevant to my consideration of the complaint. It does not include everything that happened.
15. Ms X is a tenant of a housing association. In summer 2022, she made a homelessness application as she was at risk of domestic abuse. Ms X also considered her property was unsuitable due to other risks. The Council carried out a housing assessment which noted that Ms X did not want to leave her property as she was seeking a housing transfer with her landlord. Ms X provided supporting documents including a letter from a Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) saying it had discussed her case. The housing assessment did not record the outcome of the assessment.
16. In response to my enquiries, the Council said the officer who carried out the housing assessment accepted Ms X was fleeing domestic abuse and was threatened with homelessness. But Ms X did not want interim accommodation at this time.
17. The Council’s records note Ms X sent an email to the Council providing more details about why she considered her accommodation was unsuitable. The Council has said an officer sent an email to Ms X advising her to send an email if she felt unsafe and she would arrange interim accommodation.
18. Ms X contacted the Council on a number of occasions between February and June 2023 but the Council did not respond to her.
19. Ms X’s representative made a complaint to the Council about the lack of action taken on Ms X’s requests for assistance. Her representative said the ideal solution would be for the Council to move Ms X to safe and secure accommodation away from the risk domestic abuse. The Council upheld the complaint. It said that the Council should have produced a personalised housing plan (PHP) when Ms X first approached the Council in summer 2022. The Council allocated Ms X’s homelessness application to a new officer to progress and offered a payment of £500 to Ms X to acknowledge the distress caused to her.
20. In autumn 2023, the Council notified Ms X by email that the temporary accommodation team would contact her to offer interim accommodation. The Council’s records note an officer tried to contact Ms X by telephone to offer the accommodation but was unable to do so. There is no record of officers making further attempts to contact Ms X. In response to my enquiries the Council acknowledged officers should have made further attempts to contact Ms X by email or telephone or contact her representative.
21. The Council also accepted the relief duty and drew up a PHP setting out the steps the Council and Ms X would take to relieve her homelessness. The Council’s steps included referring Ms X to its team which assists applicants with searches for private rented properties, offering assistance with a deposit for a private rented property and referring her to an organisation which assists applicants to find housing. In response to my enquiries, the Council said it cannot confirm if the letter notifying Ms X that it had accepted the relief duty and the PHP were sent to Ms X. Ms X has said she did not receive the documents or any contact from the Council about being offered interim accommodation. There is no record of the Council taking the steps in the PHP.

Analysis

22. The Council carried out a housing assessment for Ms X when she first approached for assistance in summer 2022. The Council offered interim accommodation to Ms X so it must have had reason to believe she may be homeless and in priority need. So, the Council should have made inquiries to establish if it owed a homelessness duty to Ms X and notified her accordingly. There is no evidence to show the Council properly considered if it owed a homelessness duty to Ms X before autumn 2023. This is fault.
23. Ms X did not accept the Council’s initial offer of interim accommodation as she wanted to stay in her property until her landlord decided if it would offer her a transfer. But there is no evidence to show the Council considered referring Ms X to the Sanctuary Scheme for additional security measures to be provided in her home to reduce the risk of her staying in the property. This is fault. As a result, Ms X lost the opportunity to have additional security measures in her property to mitigate the risk of domestic abuse.
24. Ms X contacted the Council several times between February and June 2023 for updates on her homelessness application. There is no evidence the Council responded to these requests which is fault. It is possible that Ms X may have accepted interim accommodation at this time as a management transfer from her landlord was not forthcoming.
25. The Council accepted the relief duty in autumn 2023 and drew up a PHP for her. The Council has no record that the decision letter and PHP was sent to Ms X and Ms X has confirmed she did not receive it. I therefore consider the Council did not notify Ms X that it had accepted the relief duty and send the PHP to her. As a result, Ms X was not aware of what was happening with her homelessness application which will have caused distress to her. She also did not receive guidance on what she could do to relieve her homelessness.
26. There is no evidence to show the Council took the steps set out on the PHP for Ms X including making referrals to its team and another organisation to find accommodation for Ms X. This is fault. I cannot know if Ms X would have secured suitable alternative accommodation if the Council had made the referrals. But Ms X lost the opportunity for support in finding alternative accommodation.
27. The relief duty would have expired after 56 days so the Council should also have considered if it accepted the main housing duty for Ms X. The Council did not do so. This is fault. The Council accepted it was not reasonable for Ms X to occupy her property due to domestic abuse. So, I consider, on balance, the Council would have accepted the main housing duty to Ms X and provided temporary accommodation had it considered its duty.
28. The Council failed to take appropriate action to contact Ms X to provide interim accommodation to her. As the Council has acknowledged, it should have tried to contact Ms X by email or contact her representative when it was unable to contact her by telephone. The failure to do so is fault which denied Ms X an offer of interim accommodation.
29. On balance, I consider the faults by the Council outlined above caused Ms X to live in unsuitable accommodation with the risk of abuse from February 2023 when she approached the Council again to date. The Council should remedy this injustice by making a payment of £150 per month for 14 months. This payment is in accordance with our Guidance on Remedies.
30. This payment is in addition to the payment of £500 offered by the Council when it upheld Ms X’s complaint in autumn 2023. I consider it is proportionate to recommend this payment (if not already paid by the Council) to acknowledge the distress caused and missed opportunity for additional security measures.
31. The Council should also accept the main housing duty and offer suitable temporary accommodation to Ms X.
32. The Council now has procedures in place to deal with homelessness applications from applicants who have experienced domestic abuse. This will address the faults which occurred in this case. It has also provided training sessions for staff on domestic abuse. I therefore do not consider it to be necessary to recommend further service improvements. But the Council should share the learning from this complaint with relevant staff.

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Agreed action

33. That the Council will:
1. Send a written apology to Ms X for distress caused by living in unsuitable accommodation for 14 months longer than necessary and distress caused by the faults in how it handled her homelessness application. 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 when making the apology we have recommended in our findings.
2. Make a symbolic payment of £2100 to Ms X to acknowledge the distress caused by living in unsuitable accommodation for 14 months. This payment is in addition to £500 offered by the Council in response to Ms X’s complaint.
3. Accept the main housing duty and offers suitable temporary accommodation to Ms X.
4. Take the Council’s steps set out in Ms X’s PHP.
5. By training or other means, shares the learning from this complaint with relevant officers.
34. The Council should take the action at a) to d) within one month and the action at e) within two months of my final decision.
35. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

36. Fault causing injustice to Ms X.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman