Data on statutory overcrowding

The request was partially successful.

To whom it may regard,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 - related to council houses that are in breach of statutory overcrowding rules.

This request refers to statutory overcrowding by both the ‘space standard’ (determining how many people may occupy a dwelling with regard to the number of sleeping accommodation rooms in the dwelling and floor area of the rooms) and the ‘room standard’ (determining how many non-cohabiting people aged 10 and over of the opposite sex may share sleeping accommodation) as defined by the Housing Act 1985.

For the calendar years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (separately), please tell me:

1) How many statutory overcrowding breaches did the council record for households housed by the council in each year? Please provide a breakdown of breaches by a) space standard and b) room standard, and specify whether households may be captured as both a room and a space standard breach.
2) The number of breaches of the space standard where more than two people have lived in a home with one room
3) The number of breaches of the space standard where more than three people have lived in a home with two rooms
4) The number of breaches of the space standard where more than five people have lived in a home with three rooms
5) The number of breaches of the space standard where more than 7.5 people have lived in a home with four rooms
6) The number of breaches of the space standard where more than 10 people have lived in a home with five rooms
7) For breaches of the room standard, the maximum number of people sleeping in one room as recorded by the council
8) How many households who have applied for council housing are living in temporary accommodation
9) Please list all the types of temporary accommodation the council has placed households in (including but not limited to: shipping containers, caravans, B&Bs, converted office buildings, and any other kind of accomodation).

Please provide the requested data in a spreadsheet format.

If this request is too wide or unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the Act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.

I understand that you are required to respond to my request within the 20 working days after you receive this letter. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

For clarity - I am using a Whatdotheyknow account created by my colleagues Claire Wilde and Harriet Clugston - but my name is Carly Roberts.

Thanks,
Carly Roberts.

Andrea Davies, East Staffordshire Borough Council

[http://i2.cmail19.com/ti/t/23/7D9/254/22...

TABLE OF CONTENTS

*

Freedom of Information Procedure

*

Contact Details

[http://i1.cmail19.com/ei/t/C3/AE9/6FA/cs...

Freedom of Information Procedure
Please note that the Council will initially assess your request to establish whether it is a valid FOI and, if so, you will receive a response to your request within the statutory 20 clear working days.

Contact Details
Democratic Services
East Staffordshire Borough Council
P.O. Box 8045
Burton upon Trent
DE14 9JG
www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk<http://eaststaffordshireboroughcouncil.c...>
[email address]<mailto:[email address]>

This e-mail and files or other data transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, disclosure, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying is strictly prohibited and you must not take any action in reliance upon it. Please notify the sender immediately and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of East Staffordshire Borough Council unless explicitly stated otherwise. East Staffordshire Borough Council may monitor the contents of e-mail sent and received via its network for the purposes of ensuring compliance with its policies and procedures. East Staffordshire Borough Council does not enter into contracts or contractual obligations via electronic mail, unless otherwise explicitly agreed in advance in writing between parties concerned. The Council believes in being open with its information and the contents of this e-mail and any replies may be released to a third party requesting such information at a future date.

Michael Petter, East Staffordshire Borough Council

Dear Carly,

 

Thank you for your request for information.  Our response is:

 

Questions 1-7: The Council does not record this information.   However, I
can confirm that the Council has not taken any enforcement action in
relation to overcrowding.

 

Question 8: The Housing Register in the Borough is administered on behalf
of the Council by a Housing Association and is for people to apply for to
be housed by Registered Providers (there is no Council Housing in the
Borough).   Unfortunately, temporary accommodation isn’t included as a
separate data field on the registration form so this information is not
recorded as part of the register and so I am unable to provide this
information.  Separately, however, the Council itself has a statutory
responsibility for homelessness and carries out this function in-house.  
As part of this responsibility, the Council places people in temporary
accommodation.  It would therefore be possible to undertake a counting
exercise to establish how many people the Council has placed in temporary
accommodation, then how many of those have applied on the Housing
Register.   This would not be the same as the figure you requested, as
there may be people in temporary accommodation not being counted who have
not been placed there by the Council, however if you would like me to
inititate this count then please feel free to let me know. 

 

Question 9:

·         B&Bs

·         Supported accommodation with shared facilities

·         Leased social rented accommodation (self contained)

 

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may ask the Council to
conduct a review of it. To do this, please contact the Council in writing
including by letter, fax or email, describe the original request, explain
your grounds for dissatisfaction, and include an address for
correspondence. You have 40 working days from receipt of this email to
submit a review request. The review request should be sent to:  By Email -
[1][email address] By Post - The Principal Democratic
Services Officer, East Staffordshire Borough Council, PO Box 8045, Burton
upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 9JG.  When the review process has been
completed, if you are still dissatisfied, you may ask the Information
Commissioner to intervene.

 

Mike Petter
Housing Strategy Officer

East Staffordshire Borough Council

Tel 01283 508149 (Extension 1149)

[2]www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk

“Help save paper - do you really need to print this email?”

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

show quoted sections