A homeless man ended up in sleeping in his van for 21 months because the council failed to help him - and the authority was then told apologise to him and pay him more than £8,000, a report shows.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman publishes an annual review of complaints involving councils. The latest review shows Bristol City Council had 22 complaints upheld against it in 2021/2022, including one where the council was ordered to pay thousands of pounds.
The Ombudsman described the council's failure to provide proper assistance when the complainant - known as "Mr X" - approached as homeless in 2018 as "fault". This failure led to "Mr X" sleeping in a van for 21 months, which negatively affected his mental and physical health.
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Bristol City Council has apologised to the complainant for any distress caused and said all actions recommended by the Ombudsman had been implemented. It said that, since this happened, processes have been changed and it now has housing advisors working alongside the outreach service to ensure the council complies with its legal duties.
The report states: "Mr X was advised by police to leave his home in early 2018. This was because of harassment and violence. Initially he was sofa surfing.
"In April 2018, Mr X applied to join the Council’s housing register. The Council accepted his application. In September 2018, Mr X approached the Council. He said that he was now sleeping in his van.
"The Council says it 'triaged' Mr X and gave him information about local outreach services. It did not take an application, complete an assessment or make inquiries.
"Mr X returned to the Council in January 2020. He said he was still sleeping in his van. The Council completed an assessment but did not offer Mr X any interim accommodation or accept a duty to him.
"In June, a charity contacted the Council on Mr X’s behalf. The Council then offered Mr X interim accommodation.
"It accepted the relief duty in July. In September, the Council accepted it owed Mr X the main housing duty. The Council agreed to backdate Mr X’s priority on the housing register to September 2018 'as a gesture of goodwill'.
"Mr X moved into permanent accommodation in December 2020."
The report states that Mr X complained to the council about its handling of his homelessness and, in its complaint response, the council said its records from September 2018 were "incomplete", but that it would not have offered interim accommodation in September 2018 based on the information provided.
However, the council said it should have offered him interim accommodation in January 2020 and that it backdated Mr X’s housing application to September 2018 “to reflect the inconvenience and obvious stress caused by our previous omissions.” It said this meant Mr X was rehoused much sooner than he otherwise would have been.
The council apologised and offered Mr X £500 in recognition of the fault it accepted. The Ombudsman found that the council should have accepted the relief duty to Mr X in September 2018 and that its failure to do so was fault.
It added: "On balance, I think it likely that had the Council done an assessment and made inquiries, it would have had reason to believe Mr X was in priority need. It would therefore have offered him interim accommodation. Its failure to do so was fault.
"As a result, Mr X continued to sleep in his van. This is a significant injustice to Mr X. In December 2018, the Council wrote to Mr X about his application for social housing.
"It referred to information he had provided about his circumstances. The Code of Guidance says councils must be particularly alert to applications for social housing that are also homeless applications.
"In providing this information to the housing register, Mr X had made a homelessness application. The council’s failure to treat it as such was fault.
"The Council had a further opportunity to help Mr X when he approached the Council in January 2020. By this point, his physical health had deteriorated significantly. The Council accepts that it should have offered Mr X interim accommodation at this point and that its failure to do so was fault.
"The Council did not offer Mr X interim accommodation until June 2020 and did not accept a relief duty until July. This is 21 months after Mr X approached as homeless. It appears that the Council only acted because Mr X got support from a charity."
And added: "Mr X was sleeping in his van for 21 months. This is a significant injustice. I do not consider that the Council’s offer of £500 is a suitable remedy.
"The Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies recommends a financial payment of £150 to £350 a month for time spent in unsuitable accommodation or homeless. In this case, where Mr X was sleeping in his van and considering the impact on his physical and mental health, I assess the injustice to be at the higher end of this scale."
The Ombudsman said that the council should remind relevant staff that an application to the housing register can also be a homeless application, adding that a suitable mechanism for staff to notify the appropriate team when this happens should be identified.
In 2021/2022, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld 65 per cent of complaints against Bristol City Council. In 100 per cent of cases, the Ombudsman was satisfied the council had successfully implemented its recommendations.
What Bristol City Council has said
A Bristol City Council spokesperson “We value the feedback received from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and take its recommendations seriously at all times. We accept the findings of this investigation and acknowledge that we failed to take a homelessness application in this case, which was active between 2018 and 2020.
"Since this happened, we have changed our processes, and now have Housing Advisors working alongside the Outreach service who ensure that we comply with our legal duties and offer a better, more joined up service. The actions recommended by the Ombudsman have all been implemented and we apologise to the complainant for any distress caused.”
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