Homelessness & Prison
Housing Law case report: Homelessness and Prison
Homelessness and Prison
Ms B applied as homeless to the Council. The Council provided Ms
B and her family with temporary accommodation until they made a
decision on her application.
Ms B was later sentenced to prison for offences committed prior
to her approaching the Council as homeless.
The Council subsequently decided that they did not have a duty
to house Ms B because she lost the temporary accommodation when she
was sentenced to prison and therefore she was intentionally
homeless.
We appealed the Council’s decision and our Appeal was
successful. The Court did not accept that the Council had applied
the correct test on intentional homelessness and found it difficult
to understand how Ms B’s behaviour prior to her being provided with
temporary accommodation, resulted in the loss of the temporary
accommodation.