Supreme Court to decide who needs housing most

The Supreme Court is to consider who is 'vulnerable enough' to qualify as a priority for rehousing and whether councils are wrongly refusing assistance to the homeless.

The appeal, which will be heard from 15 to 17 December, involves three cases, Johnson, Hotak and Kanu, is being hailed as one of the most significant cases on homelessness for many years.

National charities Crisis and Shelter have seen an increase in rough sleeping and will be submitting evidence on how people in desperate situations are being judged by local councils as not being vulnerable.

Giles Peaker, a housing, leasehold and property disputes partner at Anthony Gold, said the appeal was arguably one of the most important cases on homelessness for a decade.

"The three cases involve homeless people who were not considered vulnerable enough to be prioritised for housing, despite one suffering from mental health issues, another having learning difficulties and other disabilities and in the third case, recovering from drug addiction."

He continued: "It is the first time that the issue of vulnerability has been tested by the Supreme Court and will have considerable implications for homeless people and local authorities who are required to house those deemed 'vulnerable' under the Housing Act 1996."

Peaker remarked that the outcome of the appeal is all the more crucial as local authorities are currently being asked to cut costs from their budgets: "With the Department for Communities and Local Government seeking to intervene to set out the government's 'long-standing position', the case is likely to define how local authorities assess the vulnerability of single homeless people, and whether there is a duty to house them, for years to come."