Housing

Lack of joined-up support from council led to significant gaps in disabled man’s care package, homelessness and unsuitable interim and temporary accommodation

Ombudsman recommends that council pays more than £10,000 in compensation and reminds it of its duties towards homeless people, particularly those with complex support needs

High Court rules that a student who jointly owned a property was not entitled to a student exemption from council tax during and after a period of residence

Marshall v Bath And North East Somerset Council [2024] EWHC 2551 (Admin)

Last year saw a more than 10 per cent increase in the number of people dying while homeless in the UK

New statistics also highlight that deaths of people sleeping rough increased by 42 per cent

Commons Public Bill Committee issues call for evidence on Renters’ Rights Bill

With scrutiny of the Bill due to commence on 22 October 2024, Committee strongly advises that evidence be submitted as soon as possible

Call for Renters’ Rights Bill to include ‘relocation compensation’ and protection from ‘rent-hike evictions’

Briefing from Generation Rent for the Bill's second reading yesterday also urges government to include provisions to end the 'right to rent' policy

Transfer of functions in consequence of the renaming of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

New statutory instrument

Prescription of new classes of dwelling that are exempt from the empty homes or second homes council tax premiums in England

New statutory instrument

High Court rules that council’s allocation scheme that disregarded needs arising from disability when applicant was temporarily accommodated was lawful

RR, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Enfield [2024] EWHC 2501 (Admin)

Rough sleeping could ‘quickly spiral out of control’ if funding is not extended beyond March 2025

Coalition of more than 20 homelessness organisations calls on Chancellor to make a budget committment to extend the Rough Sleeping Initiative fund for at least another 3 years in light of record homelessness

More than 10,000 Ukrainian households have been found to be owed statutory homelessness duty in England since the Russian invasion in February 2022

New MHCLG statistics also show that the homelessness duty resulted in prevention or relief for almost three-quarters of homeless households as at 31 August 2024

More than 320,000 households faced homelessness in 2023/2024, the highest on record

New MHCLG statistics also highlight huge increase in newly recognised refugees owed a homelessness duty as a result of 'action to clear the backlog in asylum decisions'

Round-up of recent Upper Tribunal housing case law

Round-up of recent Ombudsman decisions and reports

Minister for Communities says there are ‘no plans’ to ban no fault evictions in Northern Ireland

However, Gordon Lyons confirms that his Department is taking forward work to introduce 'much longer' notice to quit periods

Three quarters of applicants on Northern Ireland’s social housing waiting list at the end of 2023/2024 were in ‘housing stress’

Annual housing statistics also show that more than half of people presenting as homeless in the region were accepted as being owed statutory homelessness duty

Record number of children in temporary accommodation in Scotland ‘should be a source of national shame’

Shelter Scotland responds to Scottish Government figures that show that more than 10,000 children were in temporary accommodation in March 2024

Social Justice and Social Security Committee calls on Scottish Government to consider adding Social Security Scotland to list of bodies subject to ‘ask and act’ duty under Scotland (Housing) Bill

New Stage 1 Report on Bill also asks for update on how bodies not subject to the homelessness duty such as the DWP can cooperate to achieve the aims of the legislation