London council pays out £6,000 after it ‘forgot’ sofa-surfing homeless family

The council decided in August 2023 that, because the family’s circumstances had changed, it did not owe them the main housing duty and so its responsibility to help the family find accommodation ended.

Amerdeep Somal, local government and social care ombudsman, said: “The council had a duty to help relieve this family’s homelessness for 12 months, but it cannot show it took any proactive steps to help them find suitable accommodation, or even look into alternative accommodation, such as a property with fewer bedrooms than they needed.

“Its own records show it had no idea where the family were living for much of the period. Had the family not been forgotten about, there is a good chance they would have been able to secure accommodation with the council’s help. Instead, the family had to rely on the goodwill of family and friends to put them up, often at a distance from the children’s schools.

“Given that there were homeless children involved in this case, I would have expected the council to liaise with its children’s services department to check their well-being. It failed to do so for a year.”

Ms Somal also expressed concern that the council was unable to confirm to the watchdog how many other families have been owed an interim duty but have not been provided with accommodation.

She added: “While I appreciate the severe shortage of suitable accommodation, particularly in London, it is not simply good enough to say it has been short-staffed and lacked available accommodation: the council still has to fulfil its statutory duties.

“The council has now told us it is making strides to invest in more accommodation for people in the borough. I hope the recommendations it has agreed to carry out will further improve the services it offers.”

In this case, the council has agreed to apologise to the family and pay them a total of £6,000 for the time they spent without interim accommodation.

The ombudsman also recommended that Waltham Forest remind staff about its duty to provide interim accommodation if it has ‘reason to believe’ a person is homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need.

In future, the council will need to evidence the steps it is taking to source sufficient interim accommodation, including an update in nine months’ time on its progress. 

This is in addition to explaining the steps it has taken to reduce delays in making homelessness decisions caused by staffing shortages and develop an action plan on how it will address delays at stage two of its complaints process.

Ahsan Khan, deputy leader and cabinet member for housing and regeneration at Waltham Forest Council, said: “We work hard to ensure that anyone who approaches us at risk of being made homeless receives the help and support they rightly deserve. We know how worrying and stressful it can be for anyone who finds themselves in this situation.

“We know that in this incident we did not meet the high standards that we set for ourselves. We have accepted and are putting into place the recommendations we have received from the ombudsman, and we apologise to the resident affected for their experience.”

Earlier this month, the Housing Ombudsman ordered Waltham Forest Council to pay out £18,800 in compensation following three cases of severe maladministration.