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Homeless family lived in hotel room for three years, Ombudsman finds
A Bristol family shared a single hotel room for more than three years because of failures in the council’s homelessness system, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found.
The family, which includes two children with visual impairments, had to find temporary housing after they were evicted from their private tenancy flat. After asking the council for help in April 2014, they had to stay in single hotel rooms with no cooking facilities, and frequently had to move at short notice.
Families should usually only be housed in hotels for a maximum of six weeks by law.
The Ombudsman found that despite the two older children being schooled in their hotel room, which resulted in the Bristol City Council’s children’s services becoming involved, the situation was not referred to the housing department.
It also emerged that council failed to accept the family’s homelessness application and reportedly tried to charge the family the full cost for storing belongings while living in a hotel room.
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Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said the council followed recommendations once the investigation began. The council registered a housing application in March last year and found a home within two months of being on the register, which suggested “just how desperate the family’s situation was,” said Mr King.
The council apologised for any hurt caused to the family, and “any failures that led to them living in unsuitable conditions for such a long time”.
Councillors Paul Smith and Helen Godwin said: “While we recognise that the situation was unacceptable for a family with young children, we do believe that we tried to do our best for the family on a number of occasions.
"This includes making discretionary housing payments available on two occasions, to help the family find private rented sector accommodation.
The statement added that the case “did not live up to our usual high standards,” but said “the length of time since the application and the difficulties in being able to make meaningful contact with the family” made the case unusual.
The council said it would comply with all of the report’s recommendations and had “learned some valuable lessons from this case”.
