Homeless family let down by Newham Council

A homeless family with two young children had to spend a night in a car because the London Borough of Newham wrongly refused them temporary accommodation.

In her report, issued today, Local Government Ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin finds that, even when the Council confirmed the family’s homelessness, there was a delay of nearly seven weeks in dealing with the case. She says: “The family was in acute housing need; in my view they were let down by the Council”.

The Ombudsman says: “I am concerned that officers investigating the man’s complaints repeatedly stated in their correspondence with him that their colleagues must be satisfied a person is homeless before they agree to provide interim accommodation. That demonstrates a misunderstanding of the law. The correct test is whether the Council has ‘reason to believe’ a person may be homeless and in priority need.” This is one of the crucial points emphasised in the Ombudsman’s recent focus report Homelessness: how councils can ensure justice for homeless people. Click Focus Reports to read this report.

The Ombudsman adds: “This complaint has revealed unacceptably poor standards of record-keeping by officers in the Prevention team. It has also drawn attention to the failure of some officers to understand the criteria for provision of interim accommodation. The home visiting policy needs to be reviewed and clearer guidelines must be produced for officers to ensure the policy does not operate in a way that unlawfully denies, or delays the provision of interim accommodation to eligible applicants.”

At the time of these events, the complainant, his wife and two young children lived in his mother’s home where they all shared one bedroom. They were on the Council’s housing register and had been nominated for an offer of a housing association property that was under construction.

In March 2011 the man gave the Council two weeks’ notice in writing that his mother had asked them to leave her home. The Council failed to act on this information. On 17 March, the day they had to leave, the family attended the Council’s Housing Options Centre to request housing assistance as they were homeless.

The family spent several hours there and were seen by three different officers, but were told they could not be provided with temporary accommodation. Officers insisted that no temporary accommodation could be offered until a visit had been made to the mother’s home to verify the family was homeless and could not return to live there. The complainant was advised to attend a local police station later that evening if he was unable to find accommodation for his family. The Council kept no records of the advice given, and so it is not clear who decided to refuse interim accommodation or the reasons why.

The complainant went to the local police station but says he was not offered assistance. He tried unsuccessfully to find a room in a local hotel so eventually he and his family spent the night in the car. Following the intervention of another family member, the mother agreed to take her son and his family back into her home on 18 March.

A visiting officer interviewed the complainant and his mother at her home on 23 March 2011, and confirmed he was homeless. The case was not passed on to the assessment team for statutory homelessness enquiries until 9 May 2011.

The family remained at the mother’s home until July 2011.

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends the Council to:

  • review its policy and procedures and make a progress report to the Ombudsman within three months, and
  • send a letter of apology to the complainant and pay him £300 compensation.

Report ref no 11 000 383

Article date: 16 March 2012

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