Ombudsman slams council for keeping families in temporary accommodation “limbo” for over a decade, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Hundreds of Barnet families have been left homeless for more than a decade because the council failed to consider upping their housing priority, a watchdog has found.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the households have faced “significant injustice” as they “remain in the limbo of temporary accommodation until their need to move becomes urgent”.

More than 900 households were left “under licence or on non-secure weekly tenancies” – meaning they could be evicted at very short notice – for more than ten years, with no realistic chance of securing social housing.

The council says it is reviewing its housing policies and will take on board the ombudsman’s findings.

A report by the watchdog states that under government legislation councils must give ‘reasonable preference’ to a range of housing applicants, including homeless people.

In November 2012, laws were changed to allow councils to offer homeless people private rented tenancies of a year or more.

But this did not apply retrospectively, so councils could only offer social housing to people who had applied to them before the change – unless the households accepted a ‘qualifying offer’ in the private sector.

Before 2014, Barnet Council gave no priority to households in “adequate long-term temporary accommodation”. Following a court ruling that year it put them in the lowest-priority band, saying they were “unlikely to be offered social housing as it is in short supply” and “may be able to access private rented sector homes”.

According to the report, the council admitted it had not considered giving a higher priority to households in long-term temporary accommodation that it accepted a duty to house before November 2012.

The watchdog found the council did not appear to have considered the impact of its policy on these households, adding: “I cannot see anywhere that the council has considered this group of applicants as compared to others in long-term temporary accommodation where the council can end its duty into the private sector.”

Up to December last year, the ombudsman found the council had ended its duty to a total of 197 people with pre-2012 status since 2015.

But it said the remaining 909 households continued to remain homeless after more than a decade. Although they are adequately housed, the council can end their licences or tell them to move with “minimal notice”.

Figures show that in 2021/22 alone the council offered almost twice as many social tenancies and nearly ten times as many private rented tenancies to homeless families as it has offered to pre-2012 applicants in more than a decade.

The ombudsman said the figures suggest the council is “not taking active steps to end its duty to pre-2012 applicants unless the lease on their accommodation is ending”, at which point it ups their housing priority.

The report adds: “Therefore, the council neither awards sufficient priority under the allocations scheme to give a realistic prospect of securing social housing nor makes active attempts to end its duty in another way to households owed a main duty since before November 2012.

“I consider this creates a situation in which over 900 households have been homeless for over a decade with little prospect of moving anywhere with greater security of tenure. This is a significant injustice.”

In response to the ombudsman’s enquiries, the council pledged to review its allocations scheme. The watchdog said that if this results in increased priority for pre-November 2012 applicants, the council should consider backdating any priority to reflect time spent in temporary accommodation.

Whatever the outcome of the review, the ombudsman said the council should consider how it can support the 909 households to secure permanent accommodation.

Ross Houston, deputy council leader and chair of the housing and growth committee, said: “We welcome the ombudsman’s recommendations, which gives clarity on a policy issue that is a priority for us as a new council administration.

“One of our objectives in our first year of office has been to ensure non-secure tenants in long-term temporary accommodation on regeneration estates are given some additional housing consideration and priority.

“Prior to the ombudsman’s report, we had already been conducting a review of our housing allocation scheme and are currently consulting on proposals to do this through a local lettings policy and back-dating priority.

“We will also be completing an equality impact assessment to consider the potential impact of the scheme on different groups. The ombudsman’s recommendations will be considered and taken on board in the best way we can as part of this review.

“This highlights the challenges councils continue to face with housing supply, and it is why our priority to insist on tougher affordable housing targets and to build 1,000 new council homes is so important.”

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