The family will also now be offered the first council home they choose to bid for, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A homeless family will receive £4,550 in compensation from Haringey Council after it prevented them from bidding on social housing.

A report on the case from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the council “wrongly suspended” the family’s right to bid, causing “distress and trouble” for them as they remained stuck living in unsuitable temporary accommodation for 15 months.

As well as the compensation, the family will now also be offered the first council home they choose to bid for.

Sarah Williams, the council’s cabinet member for housing and planning, admitted the council’s handling of the case “fell below the standard our residents should expect”.

The mother – referred to anonymously as ‘Miss X’ in the report – and her children have lived in temporary accommodation since 2017 when, after declaring themselves homeless, the council accepted it had a ‘main duty’ to house the family.

But a leak in their property, reported in 2020, damaged the flooring and, as a consequence, caused Miss X’s son to trip and lose consciousness. Yet the problem was not fixed for “over a year” according to the ombudsman report.

The council eventually told the family they needed to move out in order for repairs to be carried out. The family were then placed in ‘temporary decant’, in March 2023, which is when a resident is moved to enable repair work to take place with the intention of then returning to the property.

However, this “in effect” suspended Miss X from bidding on permanent housing. She had been “getting closer” to making a successful bid because of her “priority and length of time on the housing register”.

After raising a complaint to the council in May 2023, Miss X then complained to the local ombudsman in February this year.

Following its investigation, along with the compensation payment, the watchdog ordered Miss X’s previous bidding conditions to be reinstated by the council and that she should be allocated the first property she bids on.

Responding to the ombudsman’s findings, Cllr Williams said: “We recognise the distress, time and trouble experienced by the family because they were living in unsuitable accommodation.

“We have apologised to the family for the mistakes made. We will absolutely learn lessons from the ombudsman’s findings and recommendations and have taken immediate action to improve our services.

“I’m pleased that the matter has now been resolved and the family will be offered the first property they bid on.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, or one-off donation.