A registered blind man has been awarded more than £6,000 because a North London council took 18 months to find him a property where he didn’t have to climb stairs.
The man had applied for housing support after falling several times and injuring himself at home due to his condition worsening.
An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LG0) found Harrow Council was at fault for delays which caused the man, referred to as Mr X, and his family to avoidably live in unsuitable accommodation for 18 months. The local authority has been ordered to apologise and pay him £6,300 for the injustice.
Considering Mr X’s circumstances, the “injustice experienced” by his wife and children, and the impact on his family, the LGO determined that the payout should be the maximum of £350 per month for the duration they were in unsuitable housing. Harrow Council has acknowledged it didn’t meet the required standards and apologised for “the distress caused”.
Timeline of events
In early 2023, Mr X had been living in private rental accommodation with his wife and children. Mr X is registered blind and made a housing application in March after his sight got worse. In the application, he claimed to have fallen on the stairs several times at the property, resulting in injury, and wanted to move somewhere without the need to climb stairs..
Following an assessment by an occupational therapist, it was initially recommended that a stairlift be installed at his current home to reduce the risk of falling. However, the landlord said they were planning to sell the property so would not make the adaptations, meaning the only option was for Mr X to be rehoused.
Mr X complained that the council was not treating his case as urgently as it should when he was still living in the unsuitable house in June 2024 despite bidding on multiple council properties, according to the LGO report. In July, after the council refused to uphold the complaint, Mr X escalated the issue to the Ombudsman before the family were finally provided temporary accommodation in November.
‘We will ensure lessons are learned’
A Harrow Council spokesperson said: “We accept the findings of the Ombudsman and have apologised to Mr X for the distress caused by the handling of his homelessness and housing register applications. While we strive to meet the highest standards for our residents, on this occasion we did not meet those expectations.
“We are reviewing our housing register application process to ensure lessons are learned from these delays and to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future. Mr X has now been offered suitable temporary accommodation, and we remain in contact with him to ensure all outstanding issues are fully resolved.”
Grant Williams is a journalist and Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Reach PLC, reporting on local government, politics and community issues across London. As part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he has contributed to Harrow Online, covering council decisions, housing developments, transport, planning matters and stories affecting local communities across Harrow and Brent.
