Homelessness case law summaries

Intentional homelessness

Decisions about when a homeless applicant is intentionally homeless after doing or failing to do something which causes them to lose their accommodation.

Affordability

Baptie v Kingston on Thames

Local authorities can use set minimum expenditure figures to decide if a homeless applicant is intentionally homeless.

Patel v London Borough of Hackney

Reasonable living expenses are the same as essential needs when a local authority decides if a homeless applicant's previous property was affordable.

Samuels v Birmingham City Council

A decision that a homeless applicant was intentionally homeless was quashed as the local authority did not assess the applicant's disposable income correctly. 

Causation

Bullale v City of Westminster Council

Overcrowded accommodation can be settled accommodation which breaks the chain of causation for intentional homelessness.

Flores v London Borough of Southwark

Accommodation becoming overcrowded because of children growing older is not a 'deliberate act'.

Haile v London Borough of Waltham Forest

A person is not intentionally homeless after deliberately leaving their accommodation where a supervening event meant they would have become homeless anyway.