London borough leaves domestic abuse survivor street homeless for five weeks, Ombudsman finds

The man had initially sought help in late January, saying he could no longer live with the relatives.

However, Waltham Forest did not act, leading to a second appeal for assistance in February in which the man mentioned the domestic abuse.

Once more, the council did nothing to help the man, the Ombudsman said.

Ultimately, in the middle of March, after the man’s representative threatened the council with legal action, the council offered him hotel accommodation.

However, Waltham Forest did not act when the man said his abuser knew where he was staying.

He also asked the council for help storing his belongings while he was homeless, which the council said it would not do this unless he paid it an upfront fee of £500.

The man lost his possessions because he could not afford to pay.

At one point, the council’s failure to confirm a hotel booking left the man on the street again for three nights, during which time he said he was assaulted.

The council was found by the Ombudsman to have failed to consider the man’s circumstances when he first approached it as homeless, and also failed to consider whether he was vulnerable as a result of the domestic abuse he suffered.

The council could show no evidence of how it assessed the man’s hotel accommodation as suitable and was at fault for the three-month delay in accepting it owed him the main housing duty, the Ombudsman said.

Waltham Forest has agreed to apologise to the man and pay him £1,600 to acknowledge his distress and time he spent street homeless, its failure to consider the risk posed by the man’s abuser and the delay accepting the main housing duty.

It will also consider the man’s request for a review of its decision to place him in band 3 on its housing register.

The council will remind officers of the low threshold for triggering its duty to offer interim accommodation to people at risk of homelessness and who may be vulnerable as well as creating an action plan to reduce its delays in considering the main housing duty.

Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “Waltham Forest council let this man down when he approached it for help. A meeting was arranged when he first contacted the council, but no officer called. He told me he had to make repeated requests for assistance before the council took action and it was not until the council was threatened with legal action that it did anything practical to help.

“This should not have happened, and I am pleased the council has acknowledged the gravity of its errors and accepted the recommendations I have made. I hope other survivors of domestic abuse will be treated better in future.”

Cllr Ahsan Khan, Waltham Forest's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, said: “We apologise to the resident for their experience – we know that we did not reach the high standards that we set ourselves in this case. We take on board the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman’s findings and will ensure we use these to improve the service we provide for residents in the future.”

Harry Rodd