Summary: The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss B, complained the Council delayed accepting the main housing duty when she and her child became homeless. She also complained the interim accommodation it gave them was unsuitable and it delayed moving them to new accommodation. Miss B said this has caused her stress and financial hardship, and negatively affected her health and her child’s education. We found the Council delayed deciding whether to accept the main housing duty and placed Miss B and her child in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B for the injustice caused and make service improvements.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss B, complained the Council delayed accepting the main housing duty when she and her child became homeless. She also complained the interim accommodation it gave them was unsuitable and it delayed moving them to new accommodation.
2. Miss B said this has caused her stress and financial hardship, and negatively affected her health and her child’s education.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered:
• Miss B’s complaint and the information she provided;
• documents supplied by the Council; and,
• relevant legislation and guidelines.
6. Miss B and the Council were invited to comment on a draft decision. Their comments were considered before making this final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and Guidance

7. If someone contacts a council seeking accommodation or help to get 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. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
8. A council must secure accommodation for applicants 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). People with dependent children are in priority need.
9. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant 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) Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202)
10. Bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation can only be used for households which include a pregnant woman or dependent child when no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks. B&B is accommodation which is not self-contained, not owned by the council or a registered provider of social housing and where the toilet, washing, or cooking facilities are shared with other households. (Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003 and from 3 April 2018 Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17.32)
11. Prevention duty: 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)
12. Relief duty: 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 tell the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
13. Main housing duty: 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. Generally, a council carries out the duty by arranging temporary accommodation until it makes a suitable offer of social housing or private rented accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
14. As a general guide, the maximum journey time for a child of primary school age should be 45 minutes each way, and 75 minutes each way for a child of secondary school age, including any time taken to walk to a pick-up point, but there will be circumstances in which this is not possible, for example in rural areas where children live in remote locations, where a child needs to travel a long way to the school named in their EHC plan, or when journey times are extended by traffic delays. (Department for Education, Travel to school for children of compulsory school age: statutory guidance for local authorities, 2023)

What happened

15. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
16. In October 2022, Miss B made a homeless application for her and her child. Her child is at primary school. She said her relationship with her mother had broken down and she could not continue to live with her. She said she had to leave by the start of November 2022. Miss B disclosed a medical condition. The Council did an initial assessment.
17. Miss B and her child presented to the Council as homeless in November 2022. She said she could not return to her mother’s property. The Council tried to call Miss B’s mother but could not get through. It told Miss B it would not provide emergency accommodation because it could not confirm she was homeless. It asked her to get her mother to contact the Council. Miss B stayed with her sister.
18. The following day Miss B’s mother confirmed Miss B could not stay in her property. The Council made a request for emergency accommodation. The Council discussed emergency accommodation with Miss B. She told the Council she was worried about sharing a bathroom with others because of a medical condition. Miss B arranged to stay with her sister for longer.
19. The Council sent Miss B a copy of her assessment and personal housing plan in November 2022.
20. The Council accepted the relief duty for Miss B in December 2022.
21. In February 2023, Miss B told the Council her sister had asked her to leave. The Council contacted Miss B’s sister and she confirmed this was the case. The Council provided Miss B with interim accommodation in a hotel for four nights.
22. The Council offered Miss B alternative interim accommodation, property 2. The accommodation was B&B accommodation in a different London Borough. The location of the accommodation increased Miss B and her child’s journey time to school by an hour each way and meant they needed to use the tube, when previously they had walked. Miss B and her son had to share kitchen facilities with other residents. The Council said it considered it suitable as interim accommodation to meet her basic requirements. It told her if she refused the offer, it would not make another offer of interim accommodation unless she had a change in circumstances that would render the accommodation unsuitable.
23. Miss B told the Council the accommodation was unsuitable. She said her medical condition made it difficult to share facilities, she was isolated from her support network, and she was having to spend more money on travel because of the distance. She asked the Council to review the suitability of her accommodation.
24. Miss B complained to the Council in February 2023. She said 56 days had passed since the Council accepted the relief duty and therefore it should have decided whether it owed her the main housing duty. She said the Council should have moved her to suitable accommodation. She complained she had asked the Council to contact her about her housing and no one had responded.
25. The Council responded at stage one of its complaint procedure in March 2023. It apologised if no one had been in touch with her about her case. It advised the Council had offered her interim accommodation while it sought to relieve her homelessness. It said the interim accommodation it provided was all it had, and it would transfer her to alternative accommodation when something became available. It advised it extended the relief duty to give her an opportunity to secure her own accommodation and it still owed her this duty.
26. In March 2023, the Council accepted the main housing duty for Miss B. It told her its relief duty had ended. It said it would transfer her case to the rehousing service.
27. The Council spoke to Miss B about her complaint. It explained it had accepted the main housing duty. It agreed that Miss B’s accommodation was not suitable because of the distance and it being a hotel. It explained now she was an approved housing case it would work with her to look at settled housing options. It apologised if any of her messages went unanswered and explained her housing officer had been absent.
28. In March 2023, the Council offered Miss B property 2 as temporary accommodation. The property was a one-bedroom flat in the Council’s borough. It told her it had ordered flooring, beds, a cooker, and fridge and if they were not in the property yet, they would be in early the following week. The Council explained it believed the offer was suitable and if she refused it, it might end its housing duty. Miss B accepted the offer.
29. Miss B confirmed she would like the Council to consider her complaint at stage two in April 2023. She said it had been five weeks since the Council offered property 2 and it was still not ready for her to move into. She asked to move into property 2 or to alternative suitable temporary accommodation. She asked the Council to reimburse her for the cost of travelling to and from her accommodation.
30. The Council responded at stage two of its complaint procedure in May 2023. It said when Miss B and her child were placed in interim accommodation, the only accommodation available was property 1. The Council accepted the accommodation was not suitable. It said it had since accepted the main housing duty and offered her alternative temporary accommodation, property 2. It advised it had completed all internal repairs and the property was almost ready to let. It said it could not provide alternative accommodation while she waited for property 2 to be ready. The Council found fault with its delay moving Miss B into property 2. It decided to award her £10 a week for the 13 weeks she had been in unsuitable accommodation, a total of £130 in compensation, and £300 for time and trouble.
31. As of October 2023, property 2 is still not ready for Miss B to move into. The Council advised it needs flooring and white goods and it has ordered these items.

Enquiry response

32. The Council commented, ‘We are experiencing a severe supply crisis that has led us to have, at it’s peak, over 130 households in shared accommodation’.
33. The Council advised alternative temporary accommodation became available while Miss B was waiting for property 2 to be ready to move into. It said it did not consider her for these properties because she accepted the offer of property 2.

Analysis

34. My findings are:
35. When Miss B presented to the Council as homeless in November 2022, it told her it would not provide emergency accommodation because it could not confirm she was homeless. This is the wrong test. The duty to provide interim accommodation arises when the Council has ‘reason to believe’ an applicant is homeless and in priority need. The Council applied the wrong test, and this was fault. I do not consider this caused Miss B significant injustice because she stayed with her sister and remained there when the Council offered her interim accommodation the following day.
36. The Council delayed accepting the main housing duty for Miss B. The Council accepted the relief duty for Miss B in December 2022. The Council should have ended this duty after 56 days at the end of January 2023. The Council should then have decided if it owed Ms B the main housing duty. The Council did not do this until March 2023, a delay of over a month. The Council said it extended the relief duty to give Miss B an opportunity to secure her own accommodation. This is not something the Council can do. The Council’s delay accepting the main housing duty delayed it transferring Miss B’s case to the rehousing service which was responsible for sourcing suitable temporary accommodation. Therefore, the delay creates uncertainty for Miss B about whether the Council would have offered alternative temporary accommodation sooner had it not been for its delay.
37. In February 2023, the Council placed Miss B and her child in unsuitable interim accommodation. The law says families can only stay in accommodation with shared facilities for a maximum of six weeks. Miss B and her child are still in property 1 and have been there for over 36 weeks on the date of this decision. The Council is at fault for placing Miss B and her child in B&B accommodation for longer than six weeks.
38. In addition to having to share facilities, living at property 1 added over an hour to Miss B and her son’s travel time to school and put them at financial loss because they had to pay extra travel costs. The Council is at fault for not taking any steps to mitigate the impact on Miss B and her child of living in unsuitable accommodation, for example, by paying for them to get to school.
39. Within six weeks of the Council placing Miss B in B&B accommodation, it offered her property 2. However, this property is still not ready for her to move into. When the Council became aware there would be considerable delay with property 2 being ready to let, it should have made efforts to find other temporary accommodation for Miss B and her child. The Council did not, and this was fault.
40. It is positive the Council accepted property 1 was unsuitable in its stage two complaint response and offered Miss B compensation. However, I consider a payment of £130 or £10 a week too low. The Council has agreed to make a further payment to Miss B for the injustice she and her child experienced because of living in unsuitable interim accommodation.
41. The Council’s enquiry response stated, ‘We are experiencing a severe supply crisis that has led us to have, at it’s peak, over 130 households in shared accommodation’. This suggests there is a systemic problem that is impacting on other homeless families. I have recommended service improvements to address this.

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Agreed action

42. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to the following recommendations.
43. Within one month of the final decision, the Council will:
• Pay Miss B £100 for the uncertainty caused by the Council’s delay ending the relief duty and accepting the main housing duty.
• Pay Miss B £100 a week from the seventh week she and her son spent living in property 1 to the day they move out, minus the £130 the Council has already paid to remedy this injustice.
• Reimburse Miss B the cost of buying a travel card for herself to get her son to school for each term-time week they spent living in property 1.
• Remind housing staff the duty to provide interim accommodation arises when the Council has ‘reason to believe’ an applicant is homeless and in priority need, not when it had confirmed this.
• Remind housing staff the relief duty lasts 56 days and at this point, the Council must decide if it owes homelessness applicants the main housing duty.
44. Within two months of the final decision, the Council will:
• Review its procurement policy to reduce the use of B&B accommodation and increase the supply of other types of temporary accommodation.
45. Arrange for Miss B and her child to move into property 2 or other suitable alternative accommodation without delay.
46. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

47. I find fault with the Council. This fault caused Miss B and her child injustice, and the Council has agreed with the recommendations I have made to remedy that injustice. I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman