Lawful consequences; "homeless at home"  

In his article, James considers the recent House of Lords decision in Birmingham City Council v Ali and others (which was heard jointly with Moran v Manchester City Council).

Extracts from the article:

"This takes us back to the bad old days before 1986 when to be homeless you had to have no accommodation at all but to be intentionally homeless the authority had to show the accommodation you left was reasonable to continue to occupy. Now this difference in treatment of the homeless at home is to be found when deciding what accommodation is suitable for a homeless person rather than whether the applicant is homeless at all...

The House of Lords decision has created a lot of uncertainty in the duties owed to the homeless at home. It appears that the laudable determination of the Lords to reverse the decision in Moran has created a number of unintended consequences for the homeless at home."

For more details about this article please contact Helen Ray on 0161 236 1840.

Quick links

> September / October 2009 - Lawful consequences (ROOF Magazine)