The homeless families refused housing help by under-pressure councils

Special report: Homeless families talk to Holly Bancroft about fighting landlords and councils for a place to live as new legislation tackling housing issues and child poverty is announced by the Labour government

When mother-of-four Margaret was found “intentionally homeless” in May last year, she couldn’t quite believe what was happening. She had been living in a hotel room for months, crammed into a bunk bed with her daughter and son, with only a microwave to cook with. Her two teenage children had to sit in the bathroom to do their college work as there was no space.

Seven months earlier, she had been issued with a section 21 ‘no-fault’ eviction notice by her landlord in Bournemouth - a power the government has now vowed to outlaw as part of the King’s Speech on Wednesday - and the local council had temporarily put her and her children in the hotel room.

She had been called to an interview in April 2023 to assess whether the council had a duty to help house the family. A month later, officials decided Margaret and her children aged five to 18 were “intentionally homeless” - and were not entitled to help.

“It is such a horrible phrase because nobody makes themselves intentionally homeless,” Margaret, whose name has been changed to protect her family’s privacy, told The Independent. “It makes it feel like it’s your fault, like you’ve done this to you and your family.”

Housing charity Shelter was able to help her challenge the council’s “intentionally homeless” decision and it was ultimately overturned. However, many others who are in Margaret’s position are unsuccessful in their appeals or don’t know they have the power to ask for a review in the first place.

Section 202 reviews can be used to challenge council housing decisions. They are used to contest a council’s decision to stop or refuse housing for a resident or to challenge disrepair in a property.

New freedom of information data obtained by The Independent shows only 28 per cent of people who challenged their local council over their housing provision were successful in 2023.

Data from 179 councils in England shows more than 5,800 people tried to challenge their housing conditions or housing provision last year. Around 60 per cent of relevant councils responded to the FOI request.

Anabel and her two-year-old son, pictured, have been living in an B&B in Lewisham, south-east London, and have asked to be moved (Supplied)

There has been a 52 per cent increase in the number of reviews requested in the past five years, mapping the increasing homelessness across the country. However, the number of decisions overturned in the applicants’ favour has stayed relatively stable, with rates dipping slightly from a 31 per cent success rate in 2019 to 28 per cent in 2023.

Speaking about the data, policy manager Deborah Garvie at Shelter said: “Every single one of these requests for a review is either someone who is not being offered accommodation at all, or the accommodation that they have been offered they feel they really can’t take it. That’s why it’s so worrying. A lot of people also don’t realise they can request a review of their decision, so a whole load of people won’t show up in this data.”

Councillor Kieron Wilson, at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council which provided accommodation for Margaret’s family, said it worked hard to support local families.

He added: “Sadly, despite prioritising preventative support, we have seen a significant increase in homelessness demand in the BCP area. ‘No fault’ family eviction from private sector housing, and family breakdown, due to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, are the most common causes for this increase.”

More than 100,000 households - two-thirds of which are families with children - are living in temporary accommodation, according to the latest government figures.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer kick-started sweeping reforms to the planning system on Wednesday as part of a drive to deliver 1.5 million new homes. The government vowed to “make sure everyone can grow up in the secure housing they deserve” as new legislation was announced in the King’s Speech, and further launched a child poverty taskforce “to address the root causes”.

Another mother, Sylvia, 31, told The Independent how Haringey Council in London discharged its duty to house her and her disabled eight-year-old son in September 2022 after it tried to move her into a new flat that was further away from her son’s school.

Her son has mobility problems as a result of being born with short stature, and the flat they were originally in was less than a five-minute walk to his school. When the ceiling fell in at the mould-ridden flat, the family had to be moved out - but the only option they were offered was a 55-minute commute to the school. Sylvia said she couldn’t accept this and the council discharged its duty to house her.

Sylvia was moved out of her flat when the ceiling fell through, pictured, but did not take the replacement home she was offered by the council as it was too far away from her son’s school (Supplied)

She tried to review the decision with a section 202 housing request but was rejected. She is now on a waiting list for a housing association property, but described the last two years sofa-surfing with friends and family as “very difficult”.

As well as his short stature, her son also has epilepsy, sickle cell and autism. Sylvia, whose name has also been changed, explained: “My son suffers with his mobility and fatigue. He is sight-impaired as well, so it would have been very difficult for him [to travel to school]. Currently we are at my mum’s address but it is hard because there is not enough space.”

She shares the three-bedroom property with her mother, her two sisters, a nephew and her sister’s partner. The living situation means she and her son are sometimes forced to sleep in the living room, but she feels she has been left with no choice.

Councillor Sarah Williams, deputy leader at Haringey Council, said it had done “everything in our power” to support Sylvia’s family.

She added: “[Sylvia] was offered settled accommodation in the borough, and we worked closely with partners to persuade her to take it. We made it clear to [Sylvia] the likely outcome of not accepting our offer, providing additional time and opportunities to change her mind.

“We are doing what we can in the current climate to address record homelessness applications caused by a combination of cost-of-living pressures, a rise in evictions from the private sector and landlords quitting the market.”

Sylvia was moved out of her flat in Haringey after it fell into disrepair (Supplied)

Elizabeth Wyatt, from Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth, said a huge part of its work is supporting homeless people to ask for section 202 reviews challenging council decisions.

“All the time we are dealing with the effects of bad decisions from housing officers; sometimes people are found intentionally homeless, some are single refugees and they have a decision saying they are not in priority need for housing, others are challenging the conditions in their temporary accommodation,” she said.

She added some councils draw out the review decision for over a year, leaving families in limbo in unsuitable accommodation: “I would have thought that the success rate of reviews should be getting a lot higher because the decisions we are seeing are getting worse.”

Anabel said her son, pictured, gets agitated by the small space they have to live in (Supplied)

One family the housing action group is supporting are still waiting on a decision on their review despite requesting it in May 2023. Anabel and her two-year-old son have been living in a B&B in Lewisham, south-east London, since July 2022, and asked to be moved somewhere more suitable. The young family only have one small room and a bathroom which they share with other families.

She said: “As the room is very small my son gets really stressed and annoyed. He wants to run and I have to keep asking him to stop. I try and take him out, but the weather means I cannot do this a lot of the time. I cannot get many toys for him to play with, as there just is not the space.

“My son’s second birthday was two weeks ago, and I wanted him to be able to celebrate with other children from his playgroup, but there just was not the space for us to have a party.”

A Lewisham Council spokesperson said they were “confident that all procedures have been correctly followed in this case”. They added: “We are sorry that the residents are unhappy with their current accommodation. They are welcome to submit any evidence for further suitability to the council in the normal way.”

Councillor Claire Holland, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: “Councils are under mounting pressure to find suitable homes for an ever-increasing number of people.

“The chronic shortage of suitable housing across the country means that councils are increasingly having to turn to alternative options for accommodation at a significant cost - to the individuals and families and to the public purse.”