Ombudsman finds councils delaying helping homeless

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that problems with the way councils are meeting new housing duties are making some homeless people’s situation worse.

Examining the lessons that councils can learn from the first 50 cases it investigated under the Homelessness Reduction Act, introduced in 2018, the Ombudsman’s new report highlights stories from the Ombudsman’s casework, and gives advice on how councils can take steps to avoid similar situations in their areas. The Act gives people who are homeless, or threatened with homelessness, new rights to services from councils.

Problems identified in the report include councils delaying helping people and difficulties in issuing Personalised Housing Plans – the documents which set out what has been agreed between the homeless person and local authority to address the problem. The Ombudsman also found simple communication issues, with people left unsure about the next steps they need to take, or not being told about their rights to challenge a council’s decision.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “When people are in the very vulnerable position of being homeless or at risk of homelessness, even a small administrative failure can have a significant impact on their situation. Our cases show that, while people are not being made homeless by councils failing to meet their new duties, their problems are very much compounded – and often left homeless for longer than they might have been, when councils do not get things right.

“While we do see evidence of good practice up and down the country, I would urge all councils with responsibility for housing people in need to read my report and assess whether they can learn from it to make improvements to their own services.”

David Renard, Housing spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: “This report provides helpful insight into how councils can best meet the requirements of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA). Councils fully support the principles of the HRA. However, significant and ongoing funding challenges have limited their ability to fully deliver the Act and prevent homelessness.

“In 2018/19 alone, councils overspent on homelessness services by a combined total of £140 million due to an increase in demand for homelessness services, and a lack of affordable housing to accommodate people at risk of homelessness. Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, councils have worked incredibly hard to get the overwhelming majority – nearly 15,000 – of rough sleepers into housing. This is a momentous achievement but has exacerbated funding issues. Councils continue to face significant extra cost pressures and huge income losses as a result of the pandemic.

“Councils need to be fully funded for service delivery and loss of income so that they can effectively deliver the Homelessness Reduction Act and keep people from experiencing homelessness. We would like to see the government temporarily remove the No Recourse to Public Funds condition during the current crisis to reduce public health risks and pressures on homelessness services by enabling people to access welfare benefits. We are also calling for a ban on section 21 or ‘no fault’ evictions to be introduced as soon as possible to keep people out of homelessness, and for councils to be able to keep 100 per cent of receipts from Right to Buy sales so they can build more homes.”