Council forced to pay man who was made homeless £8K for failing to provide a home

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

A Londoner was forced to borrow cash from family and friends to pay for hotels for more than five months after he was evicted from his home.

A watchdog has found Wandsworth council failed to arrange interim accommodation and it has been ordered to pay the man more than £8,700 after an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The man, named Mr X in the report, said the situation has significantly affected his mental and physical health. He has been left with considerable debts, he added, after borrowing cash to fund his hotel stay.

Mr X made a homelessness application to the council on October 12, 2021. He told the authority he had been served with an eviction notice by his private landlord due to significant rent arrears and he had received a court order for possession of the property.

Mr X also said he had severe depression and anxiety along with mobility difficulties. He was evicted on December 10, 2021.

The report found the council failed to accept the relief duty – a local authority’s duty to help a homeless person secure accommodation for at least six months – towards Mr X until December 20, 2021, when it should have done so “promptly” after being sent the court order.

The report said: “The council placed a too high threshold for whether it should provide interim accommodation to Mr X.

“Mr X told the council in his original homelessness application that he had severe depression and anxiety and raised concerns about experiencing thoughts of ending his life.”

The report said this meant Mr X “missed out on suitable interim accommodation arranged by the council” for five months and two weeks between October 19, 2021, and April 5, 2022, when the authority decided to end the relief duty and that he was not in priority need.

Mr X said he had to cover the cost of hotels and was at risk of street homelessness until July 30, 2022, when the council provided him with interim accommodation.

The report found the council failed to respond to Mr X’s request for housing benefits to help with hotel costs while he was homeless.

It said Mr X “incurred significant hotel costs” and it is likely he “would not have incurred this cost if the council had arranged interim accommodation during this time, which would have likely entitled Mr X to receive housing benefit”.

It said: “Mr X had to borrow money from friends and family to cover the costs, which likely put significant strain on these relationships. Mr X told the council about this. This caused him distress and he said it meant he had to unnecessarily disclose that he was homeless.”

The council agreed to apologise to Mr X, pay him £8,733 in total and make service improvements.

This includes £2,500 for distress he was caused and £6,233 for the loss he suffered in paying for hotels while he was without accommodation and the council failed to arrange interim accommodation.

A Wandsworth council spokesman said: “We have accepted that some errors were made in how we handled this application and have agreed to write a letter of apology, pay compensation to the claimant and also review and improve staff training to minimise the possibility of this happening again.”

Pictured top: Wandsworth town hall (Picture: Google Street View)