Watchdog Slams Council's Illegal 'Gatekeeping'

A council broke the law through its homelessness service’s “aggressive gatekeeping”, a watchdog has found. The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) ordered Eastbourne Borough Council to pay £2,300 after concluding that council officers failed to follow the law and its own policies when handling a vulnerable man’s homelessness application. The ombudsman’s report said Eastbourne Council turned ‘Mr X’ away, despite the fact that he had mental health problems and had been sectioned in the past. The council eventually accepted a duty to house Mr X, but in the meantime he had been evicted, slept rough and lost his possessions. Read more on Inside Housing.

Homelessness in England Reaches Five-Year High

Government figures show that the number of homeless households in England has risen by 6% over the past year, to the highest in five years. The figures also show a 14% rise in the number of people living in B&Bs. B&B-style accommodation often means a single room for an entire family with no cooking facilities and a shared bathroom, sometimes miles away from their jobs and support networks. Though there is a legal requirement limiting this to six weeks for families, many have to stay in this situation for weeks, or even months. Shelter is also worried that today’s figures mask a further group of ‘hidden homeless’; families who have lost their home but may not be counted in official statistics due to recent changes in the way councils handle homelessness applications  Read more on the Shelter website.

Legal Threat for Councils over Homeless Provision

Councils may be forced to spend more time assessing the needs of homeless people and find them temporary accommodation while they do so, as a result of a legal challenge. Judge Anthony Thornton flagged up the potential impact of the case of a man who was last week granted permission to apply for a judicial review of the way Westminster Council handled his homelessness application.  Judge Thornton said that given ‘the importance and topicality of this decision’ in the field of homeless applications he had ‘certified that this judgement may be cited and referred to in other cases or situations’. Read more on Inside Housing.