No messing about – Nearly Legal
‘Two joined appeals on local authority duties to provide suitable accommodation under section 193 (2) Housing Act 1996 were before the Court of Appeal.’
Nearly Legal, 4th May 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Category: homelessness
Suitability, enquiries, gender reassignment and the public sector equality duty – Nearly Legal
‘An interesting Court of Appeal decision on the sufficiency of enquiries to establish suitability of accommodation offered in discharge of section 189B Housing Act 1986 duty where the homeless person has the protected characteristics of disability and gender reassignment.’
Nearly Legal, 3rd April 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Court of Appeal rejects appeal over sufficiency of inquiries made by housing options manager – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal over the sufficiency of inquiries made by a borough council to determine the suitability of accommodation offered to a homeless applicant with ‘protected characteristics’ of disability and gender reassignment.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th April 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Government to repeal law allowing police to arrest rough sleepers – BBC News
‘The government has announced it will repeal the Vagrancy Act, which allows police to arrest people for sleeping rough or begging in England and Wales.’
BBC News, 22nd February 2022
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Homelessness – second applications and new facts threshold – Nearly Legal
‘This was Mr Minott’s appeal from a judicial review that upheld Cambridge’s refusal to accept a second homeless application.’
Nearly Legal, 19th February 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
R(ZLL) v SSHCLG: Everyone In a “call to action” not a policy – Nearly Legal
‘In this case, Fordham J scrutinised the nature of “Everyone In” and analysed whether it was a “policy”, such as to impose public law duties on the Secretary of State on its curtailment. The judgment (2022) EWHC 85 (Admin) contains a detailed discussion of the ingredients that make a policy, and a pithy take on when the need to consult stakeholders arises. The judge finds that Everyone In cannot properly be described as prescriptive policy guidance, but can safely be described as “an initiative”, so the Secretary of State was not bound by the constraints on changing policy. Judgment was given under the old Departmental name, since changed to the snappy Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The two interested parties, Camden LB Council and Shelter, did not appear.’
Nearly Legal, 24th January 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Government defeats High Court challenge to ending of ‘Everyone In’ initiative – Local Government Lawyer
‘A High Court judge has dismissed a judicial review challenge over the Government’s to end the ‘Everyone In’ initiative that was launched to get rough sleepers off the streets during the pandemic.’
Local Government Lawyer, 20th January 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Ex-soldier’s wife found guilty of murdering baby abandoned in woods – The Independent
‘The wife of a former soldier has been found guilty of the murder of her newborn baby by abandoning him in woodland after she discovered she was pregnant too late to have an abortion.’
The Independent, 30th November 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Court of Appeal rejects appeal in homelessness case over level of inquiries made – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim that a London borough made insufficient inquiries into the reason why an appellant was homeless.’
Local Government Lawyer, 29th November 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Vagrancy: Government urged to decriminalise rough sleeping – BBC News
‘A group of peers are urging the government to repeal the Vagrancy Act which makes it a criminal offence to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales.’
BBC News, 25th November 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London borough to pay £8k+ after family remained in unsuitable accommodation for 23 months – Local Government Lawyer
‘The London Borough of Newham is to pay more than £8,000 to a mother of four after failing to move her and her family from “overcrowded and hazardous” accommodation for almost two years, following an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.’
Local Government Lawyer, 23rd November 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Recitation is not application – Nearly Legal
‘SR v Lambeth London Borough Council, County Court at Central London, 21st October 2021 H40CL201 – HHJ Roberts (unreported elsewhere). Our thanks to Justine Compton of Garden Court Chambers for the following note of a section 204 appeal judgment on a priority need decision, refused at s.184 and s.202 review, which features (once again) Now Medical reports done with no face to face assessment being preferred by the local authority decision makers over direct and specialist medical reports submitted by the applicant.’
Nearly Legal, 21st November 2021
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Reasonable evidence of in reasonable condition – private sector discharge – Nearly Legal
‘Where a local authority proposes to discharge the homeless duty by an offer of private sector accommodation, what does it have to do to satisfy itself that the property is suitable, with regard to the conditions set out in Article 3 of The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012 (that the property is in reasonable and legal condition and the landlord is a fit and proper person)? That was the question in these two joined appeals.’
Nearly Legal, 16th November 2021
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Review or repetition? – Nearly Legal
‘Ms Bereket applied to LBWF for homelessness assistance. The authority accepted that it owed her a duty and offered her temporary accommodation in Luton. She rejected the offer as it was too far from her friends and family. The local authority explained why the property was suitable and gave a deadline for acceptance. Ms Bereket refused it again for the same reasons. The authority then decided that their duties had been discharged. She was told of her right to a review and, in a subsequent telephone call, was told the email address to use in order to request a review. She duly wrote to that address. Her email did not refer to any review but explained why the property was not suitable by reference to her need to stay in the local area (including, now, that her son had started school). The LA decided this was not a request for a review and she sought judicial review. The issue, therefore, was whether there had been a request for a review.’
Nearly Legal, 11th November 2021
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A massive injustice’: 10 years on from Dale Farm evictions, pain and trauma remain – The Guardian
‘On the day residents of Dale Farm, then one of the largest unauthorised Traveller sites in Europe, were due to be evicted a decade ago, pupils at the nearby primary school were handed special stones they could squeeze as they walked into their morning assembly. The teachers wanted to remind everyone that the school remained a safe and welcoming place.’
The Guardian, 21st October 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
Homelessness – renewed applications and overlooked facts – Nearly Legal
‘This was a judicial review of Westminster’s refusal to accept a third homelessness application from Ms Ibrahim, following a review decision upholding a decision that she was intentionally homeless, and a rejection of a second application.’
Nearly Legal, 10th October 2021
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
The removal of homeless migrants: a legal challenge waiting to happen? – 5SAH
‘On 22 October 2020, the Home Office published a Statement of Changes to update the UK’s Immigration Rules (the rules), as part of the post-Brexit immigration changes. The reforms included a new discretionary ground for refusal or cancellation of permission to stay for those individuals in the UK on a temporary basis, found sleeping rough.’
5SAH, 10th August 2021
Source: www.5sah.co.uk
What Are Homeless People’s Rights To Belongings? – Each Other
‘Every day, thousands of people experiencing homelessness in the UK are met with exhausting challenges, but one that rarely gets much attention is the constant search for somewhere secure to store their belongings.’
Each Other, 19th August 2021
Source: eachother.org.uk
More than 100 councils and charities vow to boycott Home Office policy to deport rough sleepers – The Independent
‘More than 110 local councils and charities have vowed to boycott a controversial new Home Office policy to deport foreign rough sleepers. Rules that came into effect on 1 January made rough sleeping grounds to cancel or refuse a non-British national’s right to be in the UK.’
The Independent, 8th August 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
London borough defends approach after report that family face eviction for failing to attend property viewing 200 miles away – Local Government Lawyer
‘Councils must balance the interests of those in housing need with that of taxpayers, the London Borough of Waltham Forest has said after becoming embroiled in controversy over a family facing homelessness.’
Local Government Lawyer, 29th July 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
