Potential to overhaul homeless practices

Southwark Council signed a consent order agreeing to cease employing tactics known as ‘gatekeeping’ in order to stop people making homelessness applications.

These tactics include forcing applicants to prove they are homeless through no fault of their own and requiring applicants to be unemployed in order to receive interim accommodation.

Lawyers told Inside Housing that councils would be reviewing their homelessness services following the ‘significant’ order, which could leave local authorities more vulnerable to judicial review claims.

A consent order is a document through which two parties can agree to a set of actions, allowing them to avoid a High Court battle. The consent order was made public last Wednesday.

Southwark Council was taken to a judicial review in May 2014 by Iranian refugee Mohammad Zovidad. He claimed the council had acted unlawfully by consistently refusing to accept his homelessness application.

When he was joined by his family in the UK, the council offered temporary accommodation for just two weeks, after which they would be expected to find housing in the private rented sector, his claim said.

Jayesh Kunwardia, partner at law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, said the fact that a council has admitted to ‘gatekeeping’ is ‘very significant’.

He said: ’Other authorities will, no doubt, need to take similar steps [to Southwark] if they are being challenged in relation to gatekeeping issues.’

Jane Pritchard, a solicitor at legal firm TV Edwards, said: ‘[As a result of the consent order] if you’re a director of housing, you are now going to have to review your policy.’

Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for housing at Southwark Council, admitted poor practices had ‘crept into’ the council’s processes but said its application policy was legally correct. He said: ‘Today, when a client comes to us and declares they are homeless, their application will be treated properly.’