Those in priority need take top priority when it comes to applying for local authority housing. However, as a guideline Court of Appeal ruling showed, proving that you fall within that category can be extremely difficult, particularly without legal advice.
The case concerned a middle-aged man who said that he had been sleeping in his car for several weeks when he applied for council assistance under the Housing Act 1996. He suffered from anxiety and depression and a range of physical ailments arising from arthritis, high blood pressure and at least one stroke. Amongst other things, his speech was impaired and his right hand numb.
The council, however, took the view that he was not significantly more vulnerable than an ordinary person encountering homelessness. On the basis of a medical adviser’s report, the council found that his mobility was not severely impaired and that his ability to care for himself, day-to-day, was not significantly reduced.
The refusal to find him in priority need was confirmed following a review of his case and the temporary accommodation which he had hitherto been afforded was withdrawn. After the man launched proceedings, however, both those decisions were overturned by a judge and the council was directed to reconsider.
In upholding the council’s appeal against that ruling, however, the Court noted that the housing officer who reached the review decision was not engaged in writing an examination paper on housing law. He had taken into account all of the man’s medical and psychiatric conditions and had applied the correct legal test. The burden of proof fell upon the man and it was for him to show that the officer had misunderstood the law, rather than the other way around.