‘A woman who had become homeless while imprisoned for terrorism offences did not have her human rights breached by the London Borough of Brent in its decisions on housing her and her children, the High Court has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 11th October 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The family of an engineer who trained Ministry of Defence engineers is being made homeless because the Home Office has still not completed a review of a controversial immigration policy it promised to report on by July.’
The Guardian, 27th September 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Hundreds of families are being made homeless every week in “no-fault” evictions by landlords keen to cash in on rising property prices or put the rent up.’
The Guardian, 18th August 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Ms L “suffers from a number of both physical and mental problems. She is wheelchair bound and is confined to bed for large portions of the day. She requires 24-hour care, including intimate care which for the time being is provided by her former partner.” She had the tenancy of a housing association property – a two bedroomed bungalow in sheltered accommodation, which was adapted for her needs.’
Nearly Legal, 9th August 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a local authority in which they had sought to withdraw a concluded decision as to what duty was owed to a homeless person; such a decision could only be withdrawn in cases of fraud or fundamental mistake of fact, neither of which were present.’
Arden Chambers, 31st July 2018
Source: www.ardenchambers.com
‘The Court of Appeal has held that reg.8(2) of the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Review Procedures) Regulations 1999/71, does not require a local housing authority to specify in a “minded-to” letter that an applicant may make representations to the reviewer orally at a face-to-face meeting.’
Arden Chambers, 12th July 2018
Source: www.ardenchambers.com
‘Kamara v London Borough Of Southwark (2018) EWCA Civ 1616. In Makisi & Ors v Birmingham City Council (2011) EWCA Civ 355 (our report), the Court of Appeal decided that the right to make ‘oral submissions’ in response to a ‘minded to’ letter under 8(2) of the 1999 Review Procedures Regulations meant a right to request ‘face to face’ advocacy in making representations. In these three joined appeals, the sole issue was whether this meant that the ‘minded to’ to letter had to specify the right to a face to face meeting for representations.’
Nearly Legal, 15th July 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Doka v Southwark concerned what could amount to ‘settled accommodation’ for homelessness matters, and specifically for ‘breaking the chain’ of intentional homelessness.’
Nearly Legal, 11th July 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Oduneye v Brent London Borough Council (2018) EWCA Civ 1595. This was a second appeal from a s.204 appeal on Brent’s decision that Ms O was intentionally homeless. Ms O was in person. She had sought an adjournment to seek legal representation but this was a fortnight before the hearing and refused on the basis that she had known of the appeal hearing since permission on 21 October 2017.’
Nearly Legal, 10th July 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘In WB v W DC (2018) EWCA Civ 928, the Court of Appeal revisited the question of whether a person without capacity to make choices about their accommodation can make an application for homelessness assistance. The House of Lords in R v Tower Hamlets LBC ex p Ferdous Begum (1993) AC 509 (linked with Garlick, in which it was argued that an application could be made by minors) held that a person had to have capacity to “comprehend or evaluate” an offer of accommodation and could not be treated as a person in priority need. As Lord Griffiths put it, “In my view it is implicit in the provisions of the Act that the duty to make an offer is only owed to those who have the capacity to understand and respond to such an offer and if they accept it to undertake the responsibilities that will be involved.” There is a personal element to this issue – Ferdous Begum and Garlick were cases which first captured my academic interest in homelessness law back in 1992, mainly because the decision seemed wrong discursively (even then) and also because of the real difficulties which occur in practice in the distinction between homelessness and care duties.’
Nearly Legal, 3rd July 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Muloko v Newham LBC, County Court at Central London 6 April 2018. This is from a note of the judgment in June 2018 Legal Action – Housing: Recent Developments. I usually wait a month or two on reporting cases from Legal Action, but I report it now as it has some considerable importance, at least in London, for decisions on what to do about late s.202 reviews.’
Nearly Legal, 13th June 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Brief notes on a couple of cases, both, in different ways, approaching the issue of whether a homeless applicant can claim for damages arising from the bad performance of the local authority’s statutory duties.’
Nearly Legal, 11th June 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) has criticised a London borough after an investigation found that a mother and her five children were accommodated in a damp and mouldy single bedroom.’
Local Government Lawyer, 8th June 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Growing numbers of vulnerable homeless people are being fined, given criminal convictions and even imprisoned for begging and rough sleeping, the Guardian can reveal.’
The Guardian, 20th May 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The government is to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to European rough sleepers who were illegally detained and deported.’
BBC News, 13th May 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Spiralling rents, welfare reforms and council funding cuts will undermine the impact of the most significant new homelessness legislation for 40 years, charities have said.’
The Guardian, 3rd April 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Vulnerable children are being forced into homelessness because local authorities are routinely flouting child protection laws, lawyers and charities have warned.’
The Independent, 4th March 2018
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Vulnerable people are unable to access social housing, potentially trapping them “in a cycle of homelessness”, due to a change in the law.’
BBC News, 14th February 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘This is a s.204 appeal of a ‘not vulnerable’ review decision by LB Tower Hamlets. It is of particular interest because of the consideration of the role and place of the ‘medical advisors’ used by LBTH – Now Medical, and the strong criticism of the handling and consideration of medical reports.’
Nearly Legal, 21st January 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found fault in 70% of complaints about homelessness it investigated in detail in 2016/17.’
Local Government Lawyer, 15th December 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
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