Challenging a homelessness decision

The Housing Executive must carry out a homelessness assessment on every person who presents as homeless. There are a number of tests which the Housing Executive will use to determine if you are a Full Duty Applicant. Once the Housing Executive has carried out its investigations it must issue you with a decision letter that tells you whether or not your homelessness assessment was successful.

Since 1 December 2010 you have a legal right to request a review of a negative homelessness decision. If the review is unsuccessful, you may also be able to have your case heard by the County Court. Legally, you must request a review of your homelessness decision within 28 days of receiving your decision letter. However, the Housing Executive may allow you a total of 40 days in which to request a review. Check your letter carefully to find out how long you have to request a review.

As this system of review and appeal is a new and complicated procedure it would be a good idea to contact a specialist agency such as Housing Rights Service for advice and assistance if you wish to request a review. If you decide to ask for a review there are a number of important factors to bear in mind.

What types of decision can be reviewed?
Getting a proper decision letter
Requesting a review
Are there any costs involved?
Who carries out the review?
What information should be included?
Possible outcomes

What types of decision can be reviewed?

There are 3 types of decisions which can be reviewed under the statutory right introduced by the Housing (Amendment) Act (NI) 2010. You can request a review of the decision if any of the following apply

The Housing Executive has stated that you are ineligible for assistance under the Housing Order 1988;
The Housing Executive has found that you are either not homeless or threatened with homelessness; not in priority need or that you are intentionally homeless;
The permanent or temporary accommodation offered to you by the Housing Executive is not suitable.

Other types of decisions must be challenged using either the Housing Executive’s internal complaints procedure or by judicial review. An adviser can help you with these options.

Getting a proper decision letter

Before you request a review you need to know why the Housing Executive has decided that you are not homeless. By law, the Housing Executive must provide you with a proper decision letter with adequate reasons for the negative homelessness decision.

If your decision letter does not contain adequate reasons for the Housing Executive’s decision, you should write to the Housing Executive urgently, requesting a proper decision letter. If you need to request a proper decision letter, you should ask that the Housing Executive address the following issues:

What enquiries were made as part of the homeless assessment
What information did you obtain as part of these enquiries
What information/factors did you consider relevant to your decision, and why
What information/factors were disregarded, and why
Was the applicant given a fair opportunity to comment on any information that did not support his application

In addition, you should ask the Housing Executive to confirm that the 28 day time limit for requesting a review of a negative homelessness decision will not begin until you receive a proper decision letter. If you are living in temporary accommodation, provided by the Housing Executive, you should also ask them to confirm that this accommodation will continue to be available to you pending the outcome of your review.

Requesting a review

You must request a review of your decision within 28 days from the date you received notification of the decision. You should make this request in writing and keep a record of it. You do not have to give reasons for requesting a review.

When you request the review of your decision you should also request a copy of your file. This will help you to understand how the Housing Executive came to its decision and will assist you in preparing your review. Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 the Housing Executive must provide you with a copy of your file within 40 days of your request. The Housing Executive is entitled to charge you a fee of £10 for providing this information.

In your letter requesting a review of your decision and a copy of your file, you should also ask the Housing Executive to confirm that it will extend any entitlement to temporary accommodation until the review is complete.

The Housing Executive must allow you time to make representations outlining any errors that were made in the original decision making process. You can also submit new evidence that will support your application at this time.

Are there any costs involved?

The Housing Executive will not charge you for carrying out a review. However, it is likely that you will be charged a fee of £10 if you request a copy of your case file. If you cannot afford this fee, you should contact a legal advice agency or solicitor who may be able to apply for Legal Aid to cover this charge.

Who carries out the review?

Homelessness decisions are usually made by a Senior Housing Officer or an Assistant District Manager. Decisions regarding ineligibility are made by the District Manager.

If you request a review, it must be carried out by someone senior to the original decision maker who was not involved in the original decision making process. In most instances, this will be done in the Housing Executive Area Office by the Principal Officer in that office. If the decision that needs to be reviewed is about eligibility the review will be carried out by the Area Manager.

You should receive notification of the outcome of your review within 8 weeks of making a review request.

What information should be included?

Although you do not need to provide reasons for requesting a review, it is a good idea to write to the Housing Executive outlining any errors or omissions that may have been made in the original decision making process.

If your decision is being reviewed, you can also submit new evidence to support your homelessness application. When communicating with the Housing Executive you should consider

What evidence is available to support your case;
What changes in circumstances have occurred since you originally made an application; and
What enquiries the Housing Executive made in reaching the original decision, and whether these enquiries were appropriate, for example did the Housing Executive take any irrelevant information into account?

It is important that you structure your argument properly when submitting a review to the Housing Executive. You should ensure that you keep copies of all the letters which you have sent. A specialist adviser from an agency like Housing Rights Service, may be able to help you present your case in a structured way to the Housing Executive.

Possible outcomes

You should receive a decision letter informing you of the outcome of your review within 8 weeks of requesting the review. This letter should include the reasons that influenced the review outcome.

The Housing Executive officer who carried out the review may reverse the decision. In this instance, you should receive a letter confirming your Full Duty Applicant status and containing a breakdown of the points awarded to you under the Selection Scheme. You may wish to contact an advice agency at this stage for assistance on maximising your points.

The Housing Executive officer who carried out the review will consider all the representations which you have made. If, at this stage, the officer believes that there have been irregularities in reaching the negative homelessness decision, but the officer believes that a negative decision is still likely, you will be issued with a notice informing you of this. This notice should give you reasons as to why the Housing Executive still believes that you are not a Full Duty Applicant and gives you one further opportunity to make a submission supporting your case to the Housing Executive.

The reviewing officer may find that there were no irregularities in the original decision making process and that this decision stands. If your review is unsuccessful, you may wish to appeal to the County Court. If you wish to make an appeal, it is essential that you get legal advice.