Temporary accommodation

The request was partially successful.

Dear Newham Borough Council,

Local housing authorities in England have a duty to secure accommodation for unintentionally homeless households in priority need under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996. Households might be placed in temporary accommodation pending the completion of inquiries into an application.

My request relate to the provision of temporary accommodation in Newham:

1. Council properties are given to estate agents to manage and rent out as bed and breakfast. Once a homeless person makes an application, the council offers those properties as temporary or interim accommodation on a day to day basis. Housing authorities should avoid using Bed&Breakfast (B&B) accommodation wherever possible. The council has therefore wrongly applied the terms & conditions of B&B hotels and licensing policies. Hence, the amount of rent is higher because of the daily rates equivalent to a hostel. If it was a tenancy, the rent will be cheaper. This would have benefited vulnerable people and there will be less expense to the public purse. Could you please provide or disclose the policy related to the allocation of temporary accommodation with a license to occupy from private estate agents?

2. The council is using 2 or 3 bedroom houses as bed and breakfast through estate agents. Families are provided with a 2 or 3 bedroom properties at a B&B rates.
How do you provide those properties (houses) to estate agents?

3. Why is the council giving out its own properties to private agents which costs a lot more?

3. It is clear that people in temporary accommodation with a license to occupy do not have the same rights as a tenant. They are easily evicted by private estate agents if those people do not accept a private offer outside the borough (under the council's instructions). This procedure is unfair. Could you please elaborate your policies on this?

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Ismail

Newham Borough Council

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Thank you for your request for information. We are unable to process your request under the Freedom of Information Act without your full name.

Please provide your full name or your title.

We await your reply before proceeding with your request.

With kind regards,

Information Governance team
Newham Council

show quoted sections

Dear Newham Borough Council,

I am Mr Afham Ismail.

Yours faithfully,

ismail

Newham Borough Council

REQUESTER REFERENCE: C15078
ENQUIRY REFERENCE: E29762
Please quote your references when contacting the Council.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email which included your name, and for your request
for information received on 25/10/2017. We are dealing with your request
and plan to respond before 22/11/2017.

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact the Information
Governance Team on 020 8430 2000 or email us at:
[email address]

Yours Faithfully

Information Governance Team
Newham Council

Newham Council Publication Scheme is on: www.newham.gov.uk

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

NOTE: This communication is sent for and on behalf of the London Borough
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The information contained in this email maybe subject to public disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is
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reply cannot be guaranteed.

Newham Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear requester,

 

Thank you for your request. We attach our response under the disclosure
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We apologise for the
delay in responding to you.

 

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact a
member of our team on 020 8430 2000 or email us at
[1][email address].

 

Alternatively, if you believe we have not dealt with your request
satisfactorily you may initially complain to us, using the above email
address and then to the Information Commissioner's Office. The Information
Commissioner would expect you to have given the Council the opportunity to
deal with your appeal prior to you contacting them. Please see guidance on
the Freedom of Information Appeals page:
[2]http://www.newham.gov.uk/YourCouncil/Fre...

 

As with other local authorities, the number of enquiries has increased
each year since the introduction of the Freedom of Information
legislation.  Therefore, to enable us to deal with your enquiry more
efficiently, we have introduced an online form.  We would ask that you
submit all future requests via our online form:

[3]https://forms.newham.gov.uk/AF3/an/defau...

 

In addition, you may find it useful to access the following link, where
you can view our Publication Scheme, a list of previous requests and
responses and/or use our E-Form should you wish to make further requests:

[4]http://www.newham.gov.uk/YourCouncil/Fre...

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Governance

London Borough of Newham

Newham Dockside, 1000 Dockside Road,  London E16 2QU

Tel: 020 8430 2000

 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

NOTE: This communication is sent for and on behalf of the London Borough
of Newham.
However the views expressed within it are not necessarily the views or
policies of the Council. The unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or
alteration of this communication and any attachments is forbidden. This
communication and any attachments are intended for the addressee only and
may be confidential. If this has come to you in error you should
immediately permanently destroy it.
You should take no action based on it or copy or show it to anyone and
telephone the Council immediately with any issues on 020 8430 2000 or any
other number provided in the communication. Please note that electronic
communication is not considered a secure medium for sending information
and therefore maybe at risk.
We advise that you understand and accept this lack of security when using
this form of communication with us. Although we have taken steps to ensure
that this email and attachments are free from any virus, we advise that in
keeping with good computing practice the recipient should ensure they are
actually virus free and should run current anti-virus software. Please
note that email may be monitored and checked to safeguard the council
network from viruses, hoax messages or abuse of the Council's systems.
Action may be taken against any malicious and deliberate attempts to
infect the council network.
The information contained in this email maybe subject to public disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is
legally exempt from disclosure the confidentiality of this email and your
reply cannot be guaranteed.

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