Summary: Ms X complained about how the Council handled her homelessness and housing case. She also complained about the Council’s delays and failure to resolve all the disrepair issues at her temporary accommodation. There were some faults by the Council which caused injustice to Ms X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about how the Council handled her homelessness and housing case. In particular she said the Council:
1. did not support her with searching for and securing a suitable permanent property after it placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation after a fire which occurred in her home
2. delayed and did not resolve all the disrepair issues at her temporary accommodation
3. communicated poorly with her.
2. Ms X said the matter caused her significant distress, frustration, the time and trouble chasing the Council and it affected her and her adult daughter’s health (her main carer). Ms X also said the Council’s failure to resolve the disrepairs led to attempted burglaries at her temporary accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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.
6. 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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What I have and have not investigated

7. I have investigated matters from December 2022 to December 2023. This covers 12 months from when the Council issued its final response to Ms X’s complaint and from when Ms X made a complaint to the Ombudsman in December 2023.
8. I have not exercised discretion to investigate matters from 2019. These are late complaints, and I consider it reasonable for Ms X and her solicitor to have complained about these matters earlier. There is no good reason to investigate them now.
9. I have not investigated matters which happened in 2024 after Ms X moved into her permanent accommodation. These are new and separate matters from her initial complaint to the Ombudsman.

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How I considered this complaint

10. I discussed the complaint with Ms X. I also considered the information Ms X and the Council provided about this complaint.
11. I sent Ms X and the Council a copy of my draft decision and considered all comments received before reaching a final decision.

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What I found

Homelessness

12. Someone is homeless if they have no accommodation or if they have accommodation, but it is not reasonable for them and anyone who lives with them or might reasonably be expected to live with them to continue to live there. (Housing Act 1996, Section 175). A council must secure accommodation for the resident and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. This is called interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
13. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless people is suitable for their needs and members of their household. This duty applies to interim and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
14. Homelessness temporary accommodation must be legally suitable. (Housing Act 1996, section 206). Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability (Housing Act 1996, section 202).

The Council’s Grenfell Re-housing Policy

15. The Council should offer surviving residents emergency hotel (Stage 1) accommodation and self-contained (Stage 2) interim accommodation.
16. The Council should give the highest priority to securing long-term rehousing for residents in the community worst affected by the Grenfell tragedy within the period of one year.
17. The property offered will be adapted to meet the needs of the household (as assessed by an occupational therapist) if there is a disabled household member.
18. There is no limit to the number of expressions of interest a resident can make or to offers of accommodation made to any household under this policy. Dedicated Service Workers will discuss the reason for any refusal to inform future offers.
19. If a household accepts a property, then their application under this policy will be closed.

Background

20. Ms X has some mental and physical health conditions including mobility issues.
21. In 2017, Ms X became homeless after a fire incident occurred at her home and the Council offered Ms X emergency hotel accommodation.
22. In 2017 and 2018, the Council completed occupational therapy (OT) assessments for Ms X. The recommendations for Ms X’s short-term and long-term accommodation included:

• two-bedroom property with wider corridors and doorways.
• ground floor or maximum of fourth floor, if lifted and there is a ‘Stay Put’ fire safety policy in place.
• level access shower or able to adapt.
• OT to visit properties to ensure they met Ms X’s identified needs.

23. Between 2018 and 2021, the Council viewed several properties with Ms X and her adult child within her preferred areas for temporary and permanent accommodation. The Council invited Ms X’s OT to assess the suitability of the properties for Ms X’s identified needs.
24. In 2018, Ms X moved into temporary accommodation (TA).
25. Ms X and her solicitor raised concerns with the Council about disrepair issues in Ms X’s TA and an attempted burglary due to broken blinds and locks. Ms X said as a result she had to pay for a two-night stay at a hotel because she felt unsafe at her TA. They also complained about the Council’s delays with finding Ms X suitable permanent accommodation.
26. The Council responded and explained the challenges it experienced in getting suitable permanent accommodation for Ms X in her preferred areas despite considering several properties. The Council said it was committed to support Ms X with rehousing her into a suitable permanent property.

Key events

27. In 2022 and 2023, the Council continued to view properties to rehouse Ms X to permanent accommodation, but it was unable to find anything suitable for Ms X. The Council made offers for properties, but these fell through due to either lease restrictions, sellers not accepting the Council’s offers, and/or the properties were deemed unsuitable due to fire safety concerns.
28. In May 2023, the Council purchased a property which it considered suitable for Ms X. The OT made various recommendations for some adaptation works to be carried out in the property to meet Ms X’s identified needs. Ms X was informed the works would take a few months to complete before she could move into the permanent accommodation. The Council said it would keep Ms X updated about the progress of the adaptation works.
29. In October 2023, Ms X made a formal complaint to the Council. She complained about disrepairs in her TA such as broken oven, freezer, curtains and blinds. Ms X said she reported the disrepair issues to the Council in 2022, but nothing was done. Ms X said the issue with the curtains resulted in another attempted burglary at her TA and the Council told her it would move her to another TA in October 2023. Ms X said the Council said it would keep her updated about the move to the other TA, but she said it did not update her, and the move did not happen.
30. Ms X also complained about the Council’s lack of support with searching for and its delays with finding her suitable permanent accommodation. She said she was left to do this by herself with the help of her adult child.
31. In its responses to Ms X’s complaint, the Council:
1. said it was unable to move Ms X into another TA in October 2023 after the recent burglary attempt due to delayed remedial works required to be done at the property. The Council said it had no further update on when the TA would be ready.
2. apologised for its poor communication with Ms X. It said it had discussed the matter with relevant staff and had made some service improvement recommendations. The Council said it would allocate another dedicated worker to Ms X and assign a single point of contact to her who would respond to any of her concerns and keep her updated about her housing situation on a weekly basis.
3. acknowledged the length of time Ms X had spent in her TA but said it was due to the challenges it experienced securing a suitable permanent accommodation to meet her specific needs. It said due to Ms X’s specific circumstances, it had considered a significant number of properties, and it had to put an exceptional arrangement in place to purchase a property that would meet her needs.
4. confirmed adaptation works were ongoing at the permanent accommodation it had purchased for Ms X.
5. said though it had previously awarded Ms X with furniture allowance when she moved into her TA, the Council said it would give her a further £3,600 discretionary furniture allowance when she moved to her permanent accommodation.
32. Ms X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s responses. Ms X confirmed after a lot of chasing, the Council eventually did some repairs at her TA (the living room window locks, replaced the oven, washing machine and changed the front door locks). But Ms X said the Council failed to repair the curtains in the living room and it failed to change the locks on the windows in the spare room where the burglars had attempted to break into the TA.
33. Ms X moved into her permanent accommodation in April 2024.

Analysis

Support with homelessness and housing case

34. The rehousing policy stated the Council should give the highest priority to securing long-term rehousing for residents affected by the fire incident within a period of one year.
35. While I acknowledge how distressing the rehousing matter must have been for Ms X, the Ombudsman recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. We normally will not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone if it has prioritised applicants in the process of finding a suitable accommodation for them. I find the Council did so in Ms X’s case.
36. The Council gave Ms X the highest priority in securing permanent accommodation for her. It completed OT assessments to establish Ms X’s needs to ensure it secured suitable accommodation to meet her identified needs. The Council considered and viewed a significant number of properties for Ms X which included properties Ms X indicated interest in. The Council always sought the OT’s views and recommendations about potential properties. This was to establish whether the properties would be suitable to meet Ms X’s housing needs and/or if adaptations were required. And to manage Ms X’s expectations, the Council ensured these steps were done with any potential property before it invited Ms X to view the properties. These were not faults.
37. I also note Ms X said it was her adult child who found the permanent accommodation which the Council eventually secured for her. Residents and/or their families should be involved in selecting their accommodation and it is usual for families to support during the process of finding a suitable accommodation for the resident. So, I find no fault by the Council here. When Ms X and her adult child informed the Council of any potential properties, it considered whether the properties were suitable to meet Ms X’s needs.
38. However, I find no evidence to show the Council kept Ms X updated on the progress throughout the period the adaptation works were being carried out at the permanent accommodation. This was fault, and it caused injustice to Ms X.

Disrepair issues

39. As regards disrepair issues at Ms X’s TA, I find no evidence to show the Council properly dealt with and resolved all the disrepair issues Ms X raised with it. It provided no evidence of when or if disrepair issues were resolved and no evidence of works that remained outstanding at the time Ms X moved out of the TA.
40. Therefore, on balance, I find fault by the Council in how it dealt with the disrepair issues Ms X complained about in her TA. This caused distress, inconvenience, uncertainty and frustration to Ms X.

Poor communication

41. The Council already accepted some fault for the poor communication by its housing officers with Ms X. I agree this amounts to fault. In line with our principles of good administrative practice, the Ombudsman expects councils to keep proper and appropriate records, provide clear and timely information to residents/service users and take responsibility for its actions.
42. I note the Council apologised to Ms X and provided her with a new dedicated worker and a single point of contact to regularly communicate with her. This is welcome but it did not adequately remedy the injustice caused to Ms X by the Council’s failings. This will be addressed under the ‘agreed action’ section below.

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Agreed action

43. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, the Council has agreed to complete the following within one month of the final decision:

• apologise in writing to Ms X and make her a symbolic payment of £250 to acknowledge the injustice caused to her by the Council’s poor communication with her which includes its failure to keep her updated with the adaptation works at the permanent accommodation. The apology should be in accordance with our guidance, Making an effective apology
• make Ms X an additional symbolic payment of £250 in recognition of the injustice caused to her with how the Council dealt with the disrepair issues at her temporary accommodation
• contact Ms X and re-offer the £3,600 furniture allowance the Council said it would award her when she moved into her permanent accommodation
• by training or other means remind relevant staff of the importance of record keeping, ensuring disrepair issues are accurately logged and resolved in a timely manner
• by training or other means remind relevant staff of the importance of communicating effectively with residents in a timely manner about updates with their housing cases and with addressing their housing concerns.

44. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

45. I find evidence of some faults by the Council leading to injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman