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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Alam v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2009] EWHC 44 (Admin) (23 January 2009) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2009/44.html Cite as: [2009] EWHC 44 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
Sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court
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RAIHAN ALAM |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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THE MAYOR AND BURGESSES OF THE LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS |
Defendants |
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Mr Kelvin Rutledge (instructed by the Borough Solicitor) for the Defendants
Hearing dates: 13, 14 November 2008
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Timothy Brennan QC:
Introduction
"Tower Hamlets is an area with a very large demand for affordable housing, acute housing need and limited affordable housing options. Whatever lettings policy is adopted, it is a way to distribute a small supply of homes."
The Claimant's personal circumstances
Homeless or not?
The statutory regime
"167. Allocation in accordance with allocation scheme.
(1) Every local housing authority shall have a scheme (their "allocation scheme") for determining priorities, and as to the procedure to be followed, in allocating housing accommodation.
For this purpose "procedure" includes all aspects of the allocation process, including the persons or descriptions of persons by whom decisions are to be taken.
.
(2) As regards priorities, the scheme shall be framed so as to secure that reasonable preference is given to
(a) people who are homeless (within the meaning of Part 7);
(b) people who are owed a duty by any local housing authority under section 190(2), 193(2) or 195(2) (or under section 65(2) or 68(2) of the Housing Act 1985) or who are occupying accommodation secured by any such authority under section 192(3);
(c) people occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing conditions;
(d) people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds (including grounds relating to a disability); and
(e) people who need to move to a particular locality in the district of the authority, where failure to meet that need would cause hardship (to themselves or to others).
The scheme may also be framed so as to give additional preference to particular descriptions of people within this subsection (being descriptions of people with urgent housing needs).
(2A) The scheme may contain provision for determining priorities in allocating housing accommodation to people within subsection (2);
(8) A local housing authority shall not allocate housing accommodation except in accordance with their allocation scheme."
"It is quite possible for a lawful scheme to give reasonable preference to a person within s 167(2) and for that person never to be allocated Part 6 housing. Such a person is entitled to no more than a reasonable preference. Section 167(2A) expressly permits the local housing authority to determine priorities as between groups within s 167(2)."
"(1) A person is homeless if he has no accommodation available for his occupation, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, which he-
(a) is entitled to occupy by virtue of an interest in it or by virtue of an order of a court,
(b) has an express or implied licence to occupy, or
(c) occupies as a residence by virtue of any enactment or rule of law giving him the right to remain in occupation or restricting the right of another person to recover possession."
(2) A person is also homeless if he has accommodation but-
(a) he cannot secure entry to it or
(b) it consists of a moveable structure, vehicle or vessel designed or adapted for human habitation and there is no place where he is entitled or permitted both to place it and to reside in it.
(3) A person shall not be treated as having accommodation unless it is accommodation which is would be reasonable for him to continue to occupy.
(4) A person is threatened with homelessness if it is likely that he will become homeless within 28 days."
The terms of the Allocation Scheme
"2.2 How do you sort priority for housing? What is a Community Group?
Community Groups are a way for us to make sure that we comply with the Government's rules about who should be given reasonable preference for housing. Normally, each eligible application will be included in one of these four groups.
2.2.1 Group 1: Community Gain
This group includes all applications from
Anyone awarded an emergency priority to move; and
Council and partner landlord tenants who have to move because they live in a block that is being demolished or refurbished; and
Council and Registered Social Landlord tenants who are moving to a home with at least 1 bedroom less than their current home; and
Council and RSL tenants with a need to move because of extenuating repair needs.
2.2.2 Group 2: Community Priority
This group includes all [emphasis added] applications from
Those with an assessed need to move because of extenuating social or health needs; and
Accepted applications from one of the quota groups; and
Those assessed by the Council as Homeless under the Housing Act Part 7 and other Homeless households who have an assessed priority need.
2.2.3 Group 3: Community Mobility
This group includes applications from all others on the housing list whose applications are not included in groups 1, 2 or 4.
2.2.4 Group 4: Community General
This group includes all applications from
RSL tenants whose landlord is not a member of the Common Housing Register unless eligible to be included in Community Groups 1 or 2;
Applicants who own or part own a residential property;
Applicants without a local connection to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as defined by s 199 of Part 7 of the 1996 Act.
2.3 How do you decide which group my application will be in?
Group 1 [ .]
Group 2 Homelessness. The Council's Homeless Service makes the decision.
Group 2 Extenuating Repair Need [ a senior officer of the Council]
Group 2 Extenuating Social Need [ a panel]
Group 2 Quotas [ a Lettings Sustainability Officer]
Group 3 If you are not included in any of these other groups you application will normally be placed in Group 3.
Group 4 [ ]"
"Group 2. Sorted by who has the greatest number of health awards & then by who lacks the most bedrooms & then by the earliest referral date.
Group 3. Sorted by who lacks the greatest number of bedrooms."
How the Claimant was dealt with
"Those assessed by the Council as Homeless under the Housing Act Part 7 and other Homeless households who have an assessed priority need."
This was the Claimant's position; the Borough's Homeless Service had already determined that the Claimant was homeless within the meaning of Part 7, he had not lost this status and he would therefore appear to fall within the first limb of this provision. The absence of an assessed priority need was irrelevant; if he qualified under the first limb he did not need to qualify under the second limb.
The Claimant's construction of the Scheme
"Those assessed by the Council as Homeless under the Housing Act Part 7 and other Homeless households who have an assessed priority need."
can be read in either of two ways, each of which leads to a result which is satisfactory to him.
The Defendants' construction of the Scheme
"those assessed by the Council as Homeless under the Housing Act Part 7 and other Homeless households who have an assessed priority need"
is much more limited than the Claimant contends. The Borough advanced the following submission. An applicant for housing (under Part 6 of the 1996 Act) cannot be regard as homeless for the purposes of the priority required by s 167(2)(a) unless he has made an application for assistance under Part 7 of the Act and that application has not been finally determined by the authority. Once that application has been determined (as it was in the Claimant's case) by a finding that the applicant is homeless but is not in priority need, so that there is no housing duty owed to him under s 193, that applicant is not to be treated as homeless for the purposes of s 167(2)(a). This is because (so the submission continues) the term 'homeless' in s 167(2)(a) refers to a status which is relevant to a current application made under Part 7.
Conclusion on the construction of the scheme
Delay and relief