A home receiver that permits the consumer to receive existing satellite transmissions.

Local Government analysis: In indirect discrimination claims, deciding whether the conduct complained of is a provision, practice or criterion (‘PCP’) which is discriminatory involves considering the four elements identified in section 19(2)(a)-(d) of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010). Their meaning is ascertained by looking at the individual words (provision, practice, or criterion) in context (not in isolation) having regard to the remainder of EqA 2010, s 19. This case highlights: the risks of a discrimination claim based on statistical evidence alone, and the need to ensure that the disparate treatment said to shown by the statistics is in fact caused by the PCP and not by some extraneous factor. The court found neither the council database/transfer list logging details of homeless applicants (under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996)) requiring suitable accommodation, nor the system within which it operated, discriminated indirectly against women. Nor did they otherwise breach the public sector equality duty (PSED) because applicants on the database were statistically more likely to be women than men. Written by Genevieve Screeche-Powell, barrister, and Andrew Burrell, barrister, Field Court Chambers.

Homelessness law in Wales is governed by Part 2 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014), legislation emanating from the Welsh Parliament which came into force on 27 April 2015. H(W)A 2014, s 62(1) imposes a duty on a local housing authority (LHA) (in relation to Wales, defined in H(W)A 2014, s 99 as the county council of a county or county borough in Wales) to carry out an assessment of a person’s case under H(W)A 2014, Pt 2 if certain conditions are met. One such condition is that it appears to the authority that the person may be ‘homeless or threatened with homelessness’, see H(W)A 2014, s 66. The terms ‘homeless’ and ‘threatened with homelessness’ are defined in H(W)A 2014, s 55. Those terms also feature in section 175 of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) which applies to homelessness in England and previously applied in Wales prior to H(W)A 2014 coming into force. There is therefore a considerable amount of case law

Local Government analysis: A person ceases to be intentionally homeless after a period of settled accommodation—but what counts as settled? Donald Broatch, of Five Paper, examines the Court of Appeal’s answer in Doka v London Borough of Southwark.

Part 2 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014) sets out the law on homelessness for local housing authorities (LHAs) in Wales. It sets out the different duties which an LHA will have towards different homeless applicants. Naturally, it takes time for an LHA to conduct enquiries into a homeless applicant’s circumstances for them to be able to determine what duty is owed. See Practice Note: Homelessness and threatened with homelessness in Wales. Some applicants’ circumstances are such that they require accommodation immediately even before the LHA can complete its enquiries. H(W)A 2014 makes provision in certain circumstances requiring LHAs to provide accommodation on an interim basis. This Practice Note covers the circumstances in which that interim duty arises and how it is discharged. It also covers the power that an LHA has, once it has completed its enquiries, to provide interim accommodation in circumstances where: • a homeless applicant seeks a statutory review of the homelessness decision which the LHA has reached • a homeless applicant appeals to the County Court

Local Government analysis: Reportedly the first case to address consideration of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and the question of suitability of homelessness accommodation in performance of a homeless duty under Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996). The appellant contended that an offer of accommodation of rehousing to fulfil the main homeless duty was unsuitable as the respondent local authority had failed to properly consider the implications of the appellant’s decision to retain their children in a local faith school. The appeal was dismissed. The judgment provides guidance to local authority officers and to applicants’ representatives on how suitability, location and human rights are to be addressed under HA 1996, Pt 7. Written by Kevin Long, solicitor at Hackney Community Law Centre.

Homelessness legislation The primary homelessness legislation, Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996), provides the statutory underpinning for action to prevent homelessness and provide assistance to people who are threatened with or actually homeless. The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA 2017) entered into force on 3 April 2018, significantly reforming England’s homelessness legislation. Local housing authorities (LHAs) shall have regard to such guidance as is issued by the Secretary of State in the exercise of their homelessness functions. The current statutory guidance was first issued in 2018 and is updated regularly. The revised regime places duties on local authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness in their districts. It also requires LHAs to provide homelessness services to all those affected, not just those who have ‘priority need’. These include: • an enhanced prevention duty extending the period a household is threatened with homelessness from 28 days to 56 days, meaning that LHAs are required to work with people to prevent homelessness at an earlier stage (’the prevention duty’) • a new duty

This Practice Note focuses on the eligibility of applicants for ‘housing assistance’, that is, assistance under the homelessness provisions in Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) in England and Part 2 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014) in Wales. For eligibility for the allocation of housing, see Practice Note: Allocation—eligibility. What does eligibility for housing assistance mean? Eligibility in relation to housing assistance concerns immigration status. The responsibility for determining whether or not an applicant is eligible rests with the local housing authority (LHA), and is subject to the applicant’s right of review, see Practice Note: Homelessness—the review and appeal procedures. England and Wales each have their own Homelessness Code of Guidance. In the Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities (English Code), eligibility is dealt with in Chapter 7; in the Allocation of accommodation and homelessness: guidance for local authorities (Welsh Code), eligibility is dealt with in Chapter 7, with reference to Chapter 2 (Eligibility in relation to Allocation). The contents of both Codes are very similar on this topic. Eligibility

Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) sets out the law on homelessness for local housing authorities (LHAs) in England and Wales. It sets out the different duties which an LHA will have towards different homeless applicants. Naturally it takes time for an LHA to conduct enquiries into a homeless applicant’s circumstances in order for them to be able to determine what duty is owed. Some applicants’ circumstances are such that they require accommodation immediately, even before the LHA is able to complete its enquiries. HA 1996 makes provision in certain circumstances requiring LHAs to provide accommodation on an interim basis. This Practice Note covers the circumstances in which that interim duty arises and how it is discharged. It also covers the power that an LHA has, once it has completed its enquiries, to provide interim accommodation in circumstances where: • an applicant seeks a review pursuant to HA 1996, s 202 of an unfavourable decision, or • an applicant seeks an appeal pursuant to HA 1996, s 204

This Practice Note provides guidance on the concept of ‘local connection’ as set out in section 199 of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) in England and section 81 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014) in Wales as amended by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA 2017) with effect from 3 April 2018. This concept is used to assist a local housing authority (LHA) when dealing with housing applications, as it permits LHAs to make referrals to other LHAs where a housing applicant lacks a local connection to the referring LHA. This is designed to prevent an LHA from being overwhelmed with housing applications. This Practice Note also provides information relating to the relevant legislation and guidance in both England and Wales. Statutory guidance was issued for England on 22 February 2018 to coincide with the coming in force of HRA 2017 on 3 April 2018. Importance of local connection A homeless person (applicant) may apply to any LHA for housing assistance. However, that does not mean that the LHA which receives the application

This Practice Note covers the strategic statutory duties imposed on a local housing authority (LHA) to assess and assist those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. It covers the obligation on each LHA to review homelessness in their area, then produce and implement a bespoke strategy to deal with the results of the homelessness review. It covers prevention of homelessness, the advice that should be given to applicants, together with the enquiries that ought to be made when an LHA suspects that an applicant may be homeless. Homelessness—legislation and guidance The statutory schemes covering the duties imposed on an LHA to assess and assist homeless persons (and those threatened with homelessness) are set out within Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) (as amended by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA 2017)) in England and Part 2 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014) in Wales. However, both in England and Wales, there has been a greater emphasis in recent years on more strategic measures to tackle

This Practice Note covers priority need in the context of homelessness applications. It explains that a local housing authority (LHA) has a duty under the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) to provide accommodation if a person is homeless (and not intentionally homeless), eligible for assistance and has priority need. It describes categories of homeless people that may be owed this duty. In order to meet the test for priority need, vulnerability must also be established. This Practice Note discusses the concept of vulnerability and how it should be assessed. Duty to provide homeless accommodation Under HA 1996, priority need status will be central to determining which set of duties apply to a homeless applicant. An LHA will be under the main housing duty under HA 1996, s 193(2) if it accepts that an applicant is eligible, homeless, not intentionally homeless, and in priority need. The LHA will be under the initial ‘interim housing duty’ if it has reason to believe that an applicant may be eligible, may be homeless and may be in