The Ombudsman of the Local Government (LGO) said that Lewisham’s advice failed to defend women’s human rights by hosting her in temporal accommodation without sufficient space for her to live with her son.
The mother, known only as Mrs. X, could not bathe properly on the floor, what she complained had a wastewater problem, a lack of hot water and insufficient central warming.
A few days after she moved to the property, her caregivers, with whom Mrs. X trusted to help her wash, prepare food and wash her clothes, told the advice that there was not enough space for her safely on the floor.
The internal emails seen by the Ombudsman showed that Lewisham knew that the floor was not adequate in August 2023.
But according to the ruling of LGO as of February, the Council delayed the official who evaluated the suitability of the property for five months.
On the average, the former abusive couple of the mother tracked her location. The Ombudsman said that the physical health conditions of Mrs. X would have made “difficult to escape a dangerous situation” if the couple had appeared on the property.
The Ombudsman added: “The impact on Mrs. X to stay in the inadequate property was deep.
“Mrs. X could not bathe properly. Attention workers could not provide personal attention to property.
“Mrs. X could not attend medical appointments. Mrs. X could not receive procedures to support health conditions, because the property environment was not conducive to recovery.
“Mrs. X was located by the author of domestic abuse and lived in fear of greater abuse.
“These are significant injustices for Mrs. X. by leaving Mrs. X in inappropriate accommodation for the period from August to June 2024 and without sufficient space for [her] To live with his son, the Council did not have due consideration for Law 8 of Mrs. X to private and family life. ”
The mother was possible to transfer to Lewisham alternative accommodation in June 2024.
The LGO ordered the Council to pay its compensation of £ 3,550 and apologize to it for the management of its situation.
The Ombudsman noticed similarities with a separate case highlighted in a June 2024 report, where a mother and her children were placed in temporary accommodation inadequate by the Council for more than a year.
After the June 2024 report, the Council was ordered to produce an action plan that shows how it was addressing identified failures in the case.
The Ombudsman has requested an update on the progress of the Council with the Action Plan.
Councilor Will Cooper, the Lewisham cabinet member for better homes, said: “We recognize the significant impact of inappropriate accommodation on residents and the frustration of waiting for long periods due to decisions of the Council.
“We are already ensuring that the results of this research are shared among all relevant departments, with a particular approach to best practices when they work with victims or domestic abuse.
“We were clearly to blame in this case, but it is also important to the role of the housing crisis that are currently taken by Lewisham and the rest of London. The increase in costs and the low availability of housing is the great pressure in the portion.”
