Review of Temporary Accommodation

When we were first instructed, our client was living in and out of borough private property that was completely unsuitable for her and her family's needs. Our client lives with 3 young children and has several physical and mental health impairments. She is heavily reliant on the support of her family members for assistant with her own care and the care of her young children. The council placed her in unsuitable accommodation far away from her support network and did not provide any adaptations to the property. The property was also in an area with high crime, with shootings and stabbings occurring in the locality of the property shortly after our client moved in. In addition, around 1 month after moving into the property it suffered leaks from the property above and developed severe damp in the bedrooms. We requested a suitability review on behalf of the client and obtained further expert evidence highlighting the unsuitability of the property. The council accepted that this property was unsuitable on 6 March 2026. Following no response to pre action correspondence we issued a judicial review claim concerning the council's failure to provide suitable temporary accommodation on 13 May 2026.

Evidence Obtained For the Review

We obtained an occupational therapist report, the OT attended our client in her home to assess her housing needs. The report confirmed the unsuitability of the temporary accommodation and made recommendations in line with our client's housing needs. The report was used as evidence on the review of the council's decision that the accommodation was unsuitable. While the council confirmed they had considered the housing recommendations made in the OT report, they did not confirm whether they accepted the recommendations for future housing. This failure was highlighted in the pre action correspondence.

We also obtained medical evidence, from a psychologist, detailing the impact of the unsuitable housing on our client's mental health. This evidence stressed the importance of providing our client with stable long-term housing, close to her support network in order to relieve her symptoms and mitigate the risks to her health and safety. The council considered this evidence, but failed to provide reasons for rejecting the psychologist opinion and the recommendations made.

Judicial Review Claim

We raised these failures in relation to the lawfulness of the council's review of our client's housing needs. We also sought confirmation of the steps being taken to source our client suitable temporary accommodation. No response was received and so a pre action letter was then sent. The council failed to adequately respond to our pre action correspondence and so judicial review proceedings were issued. Shortly after issuing the judicial review claim the council made an offer of temporary accommodation which was accepted.

Temporary accommodation and suitability

Any Temporary accommodation offered must be "suitable" for the household's needs. Suitability is subjective in each case which means what is "suitable" for one family may not be suitable for the next. Suitability is assessed through a housing needs assessment (HNA), which councils are expected to carry out when a family (or any homeless applicant) first presents as homeless. The assessment should consider a range of factors, including the size and condition of the property required, the family's health and support needs, and the proximity to schools or other essential services.

If you have not been provided with a housing needs assessment, or you do not think your housing needs assessment correctly identifies you or your family's needs, this should be communicated to your homeless case worker.

If you believe your TA is unsuitable, there are different routes to challenge depending on where the TA is provided under s.188 or s.193 of the Housing Act.

TA under s.188

1. Request an internal review of suitability

2. Judicial review of proceedings

TA under s.193

1. Internal review of suitability: This by the way of an internal review conducted by the council upon request made by the applicant or as a statutory review under s.202 Housing Act 1996.

2. With a statutory review, homeless applicants must lodge their request with their local authority within 21 days of the decision that the accommodation is suitable. the suitability decision is usually contained in the letter offering the TA. Also, in situations where a client receives a main duty acceptance letter, this letter often refers to the TA being provided at that time as being suitable and so the 21 days would run from the date of that letter. Thereafter, the council should provide a review decision within eight weeks.