Page 89 - Solving Housing Disputes

authorities should carry out assessments to determine duties owed and the needs
and circumstances of those applicants eligible for assistance and homeless or
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threatened with homelessness. The Homelessness Code of Guidance
prescribes that “every person applying for assistance from a housing authority
stating that they are or are going to be homeless will require an initial
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interview” but is silent on whether local authorities should be contactable
across multiple channels (phone, face-to-face, digital). Tenant lawyers we spoke
to expressed concern that some local authorities are engaging in gatekeeping
practices, which prevent people at risk of homelessness from being able to
contact their local authority and provide information necessary to trigger a
statutorily required inquiry. Our consultation revealed that some local authorities
have sought to make digital portals the mandatory method of contact for a person
seeking homelessness assistance, although there is considerable doubt about the
legality of doing so.

3.61 This creates several difficulties. Shelter explained to us that some portals are
extremely poor and fail to retain information submitted. They have had clients
submit requests for assistance through a local authority portal, only for the
authority to have no record of any application being made. Making digital portals
mandatory also runs the risk of excluding people who lack digital capability from
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accessing their local authority in times of crisis. Digital exclusion is likely to
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be a particular challenge for homeless people, or those facing the prospect,
and so digital-only methods of contact risk excluding an extremely vulnerable
cohort.

250 Ibid para 11.1.

251 Ibid para 11.3.

252 A significant number of people in England and Wales experience digital exclusion, with a recent
report suggesting 19% of the population lack all the foundational digital skills necessary for life and
work, such as use of mouse and keyboard, updating passwords, connecting to Wi-Fi and finding and
opening different programmes on a device, Lloyds Bank, UK Consumer Digital Index 2019, (May 201
9) p. 19 available at https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/banking_with_us/whats-
happening/LB-Consumer-Digital-Index-2019-Report.pdf

253 While we understand that smartphone ownership may be common amongst homeless people, an
inability to pay for services such as unlimited calls or data, to charge smartphones and hostility faced
when accessing services are all fetters on their ability to get online. JUSTICE note 43 above, para 2.26
2.27. See also A Little Change, A Little Change Is Evolving (6 November 2017), available at https://ww
w.alittlechange.co.uk/blog/posts/2017-11-06-a-little-change-is-evolving

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