Summary: The Council failed to provide Miss B and her children with suitable accommodation when they were homeless. There were also failings in the way it carried out reviews of the suitability of the accommodation. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss B. It will also take action to prevent similar failings in future.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains that the Council placed her and her child in unsuitable accommodation when they were homeless in June 2018 and failed to provide suitable accommodation until December 2022.
2. During this time, Miss B had another child. She says that they were living in one room with not enough beds and had to share bathroom and kitchen facilities with other families which affected her mental health and her children’s wellbeing.

Back to top

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 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council has provided; and
• given the Council and the complainant the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

Homelessness

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. If a council is satisfied someone is eligible, homeless, in priority need and unintentionally homeless, it will owe them the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
8. Under the main housing duty, housing authorities must ensure that suitable accommodation is available for the applicant and their household until the duty is brought to an end, usually through the offer of a settled home. (Homelessness Code of Guidance 17)
9. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of his or her household. This duty applies to interim accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and (from 3 April 2018) Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
10. Applicants can ask a council to review its decision that the accommodation offered under the main housing duty is suitable. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, Homeless Code of Guidance, paragraph 19.3)
11. Bed and breakfast accommodation is not suitable for households with ‘family commitments’. The Order defines this as a household that includes a dependent child or a pregnant woman. Where no other accommodation is available, the Council may place a family in bed and breakfast accommodation as a last resort but only for a maximum of six weeks. (The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003)
12. The Order defines bed and breakfast accommodation as accommodation which is not self-contained and where the household has to share a toilet, cooking or bathroom facilities with other households.

Overview

13. In June 2018, Miss B became homeless with her five-year-old daughter. The Council initially placed Miss B and her daughter in hotels which did not have kitchen facilities. After around eight weeks, it placed them in a room in a hostel. It had shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.
14. Miss B told the Council that she did not consider the accommodation was suitable due to the shared facilities. In October and November 2018, support workers wrote to the Council on Miss B’s behalf to explain the impact her housing situation was having on her mental health and on Miss B’s daughter. The Council told the support workers that it could not move Miss B to self-contained accommodation.
15. Miss B requested a review of the suitability of the accommodation in May 2019 after she broke her leg and was having difficulties moving around the building. The Council decided that Miss B’s mobility difficulties were not permanent and did not render her accommodation unsuitable.
16. Miss B had a second child in August 2020. She remained living in the room in the hostel, which had two single beds and a cot. Miss B says that when her son grew out of the cot, she and her two children shared the two single beds which she had pushed together.
17. Miss B requested another review of the suitability of the accommodation on 30 April 2021. She told the Council how the accommodation was affecting her children’s health and development and she provided a letter from her doctor which said the housing situation was affecting Miss B’s mental health.
18. The Council accepted that the room was too small and agreed to move the family to alternative accommodation on 6 December 2021.
19. A year later, on 9 December 2022, Miss B and her children were moved to self-contained temporary accommodation.

Analysis

Suitability of accommodation

20. As explained in paragraphs eleven and twelve, bed and breakfast accommodation is not suitable for households with family commitments. The Council should only place families in such accommodation as a last resort, and for a maximum of six weeks.
21. Miss B and her daughter lived in a hotel room for around eight weeks and then in a room in a hostel with shared facilities for around four years and four months. Miss B’s son lived in the room for over two years. The Council failed to comply with its duty to provide suitable accommodation. This was fault.
22. The Council’s failings here resulted in Miss B and her children living in unsuitable accommodation for over four years and four months. This is likely to have had a detrimental impact on Miss B’s mental health and her children’s development.

Review requests

23. Miss B made it clear from the outset that she did not consider the accommodation was suitable and asked to be moved to alternative accommodation. When the Council accepted that it owed Miss B the main housing duty in 2018, it should have told her that she had a right to request a review of the suitability of the accommodation. It did not do so; this was fault.
24. Miss B requested a review of the suitability of the accommodation on 24 May 2019. The review should have been completed within eight weeks, by 19 July 2019. The Council did not complete the review until 19 September 2019. This delay was fault.
25. When Miss B requested this review, it was because she was struggling to move around the building due to her broken leg. While Miss B did not give any other reasons why she considered the accommodation was unsuitable at that time, it would have been apparent that she had been living in a room with shared facilities with a child for over a year and that the accommodation was therefore unsuitable. The Council failed to consider this when it carried out the review. This was fault.
26. Miss B requested another review on 30 April 2021. The Council started to consider the review on 14 December 2021, but decided to close the review because a planned move had been agreed on 6 December 2021. The Council delayed commencing the review and failed to provide Miss B with its written decision on the review.
27. The Council’s failings here contributed to Miss B and her children remaining in unsuitable accommodation. Miss B was also put to avoidable time and trouble pursuing the matter with the Council.

Back to top

Agreed action

28. Within four weeks, the Council will make the following payments to Miss B:
• £14,075 for the 52 and a half months she and her children were living in unsuitable accommodation.
• £500 to recognise Miss B’s distress and the avoidable time and trouble she was put to as a result of the failings in this case.
29. Within eight weeks, the Council will:
• Provide an update on the action it is taking to ensure homeless families do not remain in accommodation with shared facilities for more than six weeks. It will also provide evidence to show the number of families who have been in such accommodation for more than six weeks, and the average length of time homeless families have to stay before self-contained accommodation is provided.
• Review its processes to ensure that when it is carrying out a suitability of accommodation review and decides the applicant needs to be moved to alternative temporary accommodation, it writes to them with its decision on the review.
30. The Council has recently agreed to provide an updated action plan to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and review requests.

Back to top

Final decision

31. I have completed my investigation and uphold Miss B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman