Disabled person left homeless for over a year after Hounslow Council housing application errors

Hounslow Council has apologised for the mistake Google Philip James Lynch , LDRS Reporter 1 minute ago COMMENTS A West London council left a disabled person sofa surfing after failing to inform them that it had closed their homelessness application.

Hounslow Council has apologised for the mistake which left two people, referred to as X and Y in the report, homeless for over a year.

Despite one of the pair, named only as X, having an upcoming medical procedure at the time of the application which could put them at risk of infection, the council repeatedly lost track of their file and failed to provide legally required accommodation.

The pair initially contacted the local authority in February 2023 relating to their living conditions , and again in May, when they told the council they were officially homeless and sofa surfing.

A council officer promised to call back the following week – this never happened.

After months of silence, the council initiated their housing register application, however, the assigned housing caseworker to the pair had left the council by this point. Internal council documents indicated that officers tried to contact X and the other person, named as Y, between January and April 2024 about potential properties with no response.

However, the council was not able to produce evidence of these communications to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). In February, the new housing officer contacted X and Y who were still sofa surfing.

Three months later, the council closed their housing application citing lack of response from the pair – but did not notify them of this.

The Ombudsman determined that “X and Y remained in contact with the council about their homeless application”.

The report states: “It is also clear though the council accepted it had not transferred X and Y’s homeless application onto the new IT system at a time when X and Y’s caseworker also left.

“I therefore consider it likely it is those issues which resulted in lack of contact rather than any failure on the part of X and Y. In those circumstances I consider the council at fault for closing the homeless application.”

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