“Today’s report by the National Audit Office highlights many of the problems we see during our investigations. Over the last three years we received almost 7,000 complaints and enquiries about housing issues. Around 20% were about homelessness services – an area which is an increasing proportion of our housing cases year-on-year.
“More importantly, we frequently find fault in the way local authorities carry out and discharge their duties. For the investigations we completed in the same three-year period, we upheld 70% of complaints about homelessness services compared with 51% of complaints overall. In fact, we have issued two public interest reports in the past month alone on the subject.
“Our investigations also echo the particular issues in London, with many councils either struggling to house families within their local community and placing out of the area, or being placed in temporary accommodation for too long. While I appreciate the pressures councils – particularly in London – are under, people should be supported properly and not be left to fall through the cracks.”