Child Poverty Action Group welcomes Supreme Court judgment in Samuels v Birmingham City Council

Background

Ms Samuels applied to Birmingham City Council for housing assistance in June 2012 and July 2013, having fallen into rent arrears because of a substantial shortfall (just over £150 per month) between the rent on her private tenancy and her housing benefit of £550 a month. She was a lone parent with 4 children and was unable to cover the rent shortfall from her non-housing benefits. She lost her tenancy, but the council decided that she was “intentionally homeless” on the grounds that her rent was deemed affordable and therefore the loss of that housing was said to be a result of her deliberate failure to pay the rent. As the council regarded Ms Samuels as intentionally homeless, it did not have to help her obtain housing under the Housing Act 1996.

Ms Samuels appealed at the Birmingham County Court and the Court of Appeal, following which the case went to the Supreme Court in January 2019, with Shelter and the Child Poverty Action Group intervening because of the importance of the issues raised. The Supreme Court was asked to consider whether it is lawful and reasonable for local authorities to take the view that social security benefits should be used to cover rent shortfalls where housing benefit is not enough.