Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, Leader of the Council, was scheduled to make a decision regarding a report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) concerning a homeless case. The report ¹ investigated a complaint by a resident referred to as Miss X regarding the council's handling of her housing application. The Leader of the Council was asked to formally consider the report and note the decision to accept all recommendations made by the LGSCO.

Decision on Report from Local Government Ombudsman in relation to a Homeless Case

The report pack included a report from the LGSCO regarding a complaint by Miss X about how London Borough of Hounslow handled her housing application while she was pregnant and homeless. Miss X stated that the information the council gave her during her housing application caused her to become ineligible for social housing as she no longer met residence requirements. She also complained about the council's delay in responding to her review request.

The LGSCO investigated the complaint and found that there were failings by the council that caused injustice to Miss X. These included:

• Failure to consider her homelessness until August 2022, despite Miss X presenting as homeless and pregnant to frontline staff in May 2022.
• Delay in assessing her housing application until January 2024, a delay of 77 weeks.
• Failure to provide her with interim accommodation, despite having reason to believe she was eligible, homeless, and in priority need.
• Failure to keep proper records of the advice given to Miss X.
• Incorrect advice that led her to move out of borough, causing her to become ineligible to apply to the housing register in Hounslow.

The LGSCO made several recommendations to remedy the injustice caused to Miss X, including that the council should:

• Apologise to Miss X.
• Pay Miss X £1,000 to recognise the four months she unnecessarily spent sofa surfing.
• Pay Miss X £2,250 to recognise the 15 months she spent in unsuitable accommodation outside the borough.
• Pay Miss X £250 to recognise the distress and frustration caused by the significant delay dealing with her review.
• Pay Miss X £250 to recognise the time and trouble caused by the poor handling of her complaint.
• Make Miss X a direct offer of the next available two-bedroom property that meets her needs to recognise the missed opportunity to be allocated permanent housing.

The council accepted all of the recommendations except for the recommendation to make Miss X a direct offer of housing. The council argued that it was not for the Ombudsman to determine how it allocates its housing stock or how it discharges its statutory duties. However, the LGSCO stated that its recommendation was based solely on putting Miss X back in the position she would have been in had the fault not occurred.

The report pack noted that the council had already carried out recommendations 1, 2, 4 & 5, and that the Chief Housing Officer (Director of Housing) was satisfied that the condition had been met to make Miss X a direct offer of the next available two-bedroom property that meets her needs in line with the Housing Allocations Policy and in recognition of the missed opportunity to be allocated permanent housing.

The report pack stated that there was a risk that other persons on the housing register may feel aggrieved by the offer of a property to Miss X and wish to challenge the council's decision, but that as the council was accepting the LGO findings, it does not have grounds for not accepting its recommendation that it offer a property to Miss X.