The pressure on social housing supplies is immense and tough decisions have to be made. However, as one High Court case showed, obtaining legal advice is the best means of ensuring that your homelessness application is fairly considered.
The case concerned a single mother with a history of depression whose eight-year-old son suffered from a range of disabilities, including autism, learning difficulties, global developmental delay and uncontrolled epilepsy. They lived in a privately rented two-bedroom bungalow in an area scheduled for redevelopment.
The property, which had not been adapted to meet the boy’s needs and was in a poor state of repair, was close to a busy road and an industrial car park. Vehicle movements posed a serious risk to the youngster, who was very unsteady on his feet, prone to frequent and severe seizures and had no sense of danger.
The mother’s homelessness application, made under the Housing Act 1996, was nevertheless rejected by the local authority on the basis that she and her son had no identifiable housing needs and were already suitably housed. Medical and social welfare assessments followed, but the council stuck by its decision that the bungalow was suitable to meet their needs.
After specialist lawyers mounted a judicial review challenge on the mother’s behalf, the Court identified a number of serious defects in the council’s decision letter. It was wholly superficial and failed to engage adequately, or at all, with at least two risks to the boy’s safety arising from his housing. The medical assessment was also very unimpressive and the council had failed to properly consider whether the boy had a welfare need to be rehoused. The Court heard further argument as to the relief that should be granted in the light of its decision.