The council has apologised after the family were placed in ‘unsuitable’ and ‘overcrowded’ accommodations
Birmingham City Council House(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
A homeless dad-of-six has been awarded nearly £9,000 in compensation after his family were left in ‘unsuitable accommodations’ in Birmingham for months at a time.
A housing ombudsman has ordered Birmingham City Council to pay the dad to ‘remedy the injustice’.
The authority placed the family in a bed and breakfast in 2023 for 10 weeks over the six-week legal limit allowed for homeless applicants with dependent children.
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The dad, referred to as ‘Mr B’ in the ombudsman’s report, was then moved with his children to an ‘unsuitable’ and ‘overcrowded’ accommodation where they shared facilities with other families.
Housing chiefs have since agreed to move the family, who have been at that shared property for 21 months, following the damning report.
The dad’s plight began when he became homeless in June 2023. He was then housed with his wife and six children at the B&B which did not have cooking facilities which caused them ‘unnecessary expense’.
“The family were living at the B&B accommodation for almost 16 weeks until November 2, 2023,” wrote the ombudsman.
“The council breached its duties under the Housing Act 1996 by failing to provide suitable accommodation and it failed to inform him that B&B accommodation can only be provided for six weeks.
“The accommodation provided [later] was also unsuitable because it was too small and was not self-contained.
“After Mr B’s eldest son moved in, it did not have enough beds. The council’s records from that time show it was aware that the accommodation would be too small when Mr B’s son moved in – but it took no action to source larger accommodation.
The council has now agreed to pay the dad nearly £9,000 for the “injustice”, said the ombudsman.
Nearly £5,000 of that sum will be made due to the “impact of being placed in severely overcrowded accommodation with insufficient beds” from November 2023 until August 2025.
A payment of £2,664 will be made for food costs that the family incurred between July and November 2023, and £1,000 will be made due to the “impact of being placed in unsuitable B&B.”
“And for each full month between August 1, 2025, and February 1, 2026 that the family remains in unsuitable accommodation it will make a payment of £250 to Mr B,” added the ombudsman.
The council has agreed to move the family to suitable accommodation.