The time at which the local connection is determined is the date of the LHA decision, not the date of the application. If the applicant exercises his right under the AH 1996, art. 202 or H(W)A 2014, art. 85, to request a reconsideration of the LHA`s decision, the local link will be considered part of that review. Therefore, an applicant may be able to purchase a local link between the date of the initial decision and the reconsideration decision. For more information on reviewing a decision, see Practice Note: Homelessness – Review and Appeal Procedures. 7.19 Local authorities should also take into account the known risk of external violence to the applicant when deciding whether or not to forward an application to another local authority. 10.46 Only then may the notifying authority issue a referral in accordance with article 198 para. 1 where their obligations towards the applicant under Paragraph 189b(2) of the exempt levy have ceased. This concept is used to help a local housing authority (LHA) process housing applications, as it allows LHA to make references to other LHA if a housing applicant does not have a local connection to the referring LHA. This is to prevent an LHA from being overwhelmed by enclosure applications. This article also provides information on relevant legislation and guidelines in England and Wales.
7.13 If an applicant is a former asylum seeker who has already been accommodated under a contract for accommodation and asylum support services (AASC)[35], the applicant has not established a local link with the competent local authority where the accommodation is located (section 7 of the 2003 Act). Indeed, the applicant had no choice as to where the accommodation was provided. (A former asylum seeker may then be eligible for assistance under homelessness laws if they have been granted a residence permit – see new COSLA guidelines.[36] 7.2 When seeking sustainable housing solutions for applicants, it is generally preferable for an application to be processed by the local authority to which it is addressed. Most homeless people seek help from their local authority, and those who apply elsewhere usually have a good reason to do so. This chapter provides guidance on the application of the provision of the Local Monitoring Act 1987. A member of the armed forces can get a local connection in the area where he was stationed. [10] The High Court held that an applicant who was in temporary accommodation after the local authority terminated his permission to use that dwelling did not acquire a local connection because in these circumstances illegal occupation was not necessary to justify it. [14] It is also noted that the local relationship does not result from a family relationship with a dependent child residing in a territory other than his or her parents, since a child`s place of residence is not a place of residence of choice. If an ineligible foreign person has been accommodated by social services under the Care Act 2014, it is not a dwelling of his or her choice and therefore cannot establish a local link within the meaning of Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, even if the person is entitled to homelessness assistance.
[31] A care recipient has a local connection to an area of the local authority where he or she owes duties as a former child concerned. [29] This local liaison category is valid until the care recipient`s 21st birthday or if the caregiver is taking a course defined in their study plan until that course is completed. [30] Family ties are not defined in the AH 1996. However, ozbek v. Ipswich BC suggests that it can include extended family members as long as there are sufficiently close ties to contact, commitment or dependence. It is the nature of the relationship, not the degree of inbreeding that matters. This is confirmed in the 2018 Code. Paragraph 10.9 adds that an LHA should not establish a local link through a family association unless it is located in an area where the applicant wishes to live positively. As a general rule, family members must have resided in the reception area for at least five years. R v Vale of White Horse DC ex parte Smith and Hay (1984) 17 HLR 160, QBD; Paragraph 4.3(ii) Procedure for referring homeless applicants to another local authority, Local Government Association, 2018.
7.22 Section 8 of the 2003 Act of 7 November 2019 gave Scottish ministers the power to change the use of the local connection. This allows Scottish Ministers to amend, by order of a legal act, the application of section 33 of the 1987 Act, which allows a homeless applicant to be referred to another local authority in certain circumstances. The intent of a change is to give people who apply for homelessness as many choices as possible, including the advice they apply to. For municipalities, however, nothing will change in the short term. The Act sets out a process on which Scottish ministers must consult fully and then issue a statement by November 2020 setting out the circumstances in which the power to change the local link must be exercised, as well as the criteria to be taken into account before using the power. Following the Ministerial Declaration, the legal instrument for introducing any amendment would be submitted to the Scottish Parliament. Any legal instrument drawn up by Scottish ministers would limit the change of local link to agreements between Scottish local authorities. Further guidance will be issued when the changes to the use of the local connection take effect. 10.17 § 199 (8) to (11) contains special provisions on the local link of persons leaving care. 10.32 Recommendations are made only at their own discretion: housing authorities are not obliged to refer applicants to other authorities.
Housing authorities may have a policy on how they exercise their discretion to refer a case. However, this should not extend to the earlier decision that, in all cases where there is a local link to another district, the case must be referred. 10.40 From the date the first notification is issued, the Authority is no longer subject to the relief tax and is no longer subject to the obligation under section 188 (temporary placement). However, if they have reason to believe that the applicant may be needed as a matter of priority, they are required under Article 199A(2) to provide the applicant with temporary accommodation while a decision is taken as to whether the conditions for removal are met. 10.67 If an English or Welsh housing authority attempts to refer a matter to a Scottish housing authority, an application must be made to the Association of Municipalities to appoint an arbitrator. 10.15 Housing authorities are generally not required to ask whether an applicant has a local connection to an area. On the basis of Article 11 of the Asylum and Immigration Act (processing of applicants, etc.) According to the 2004 Act, in cases where the applicant is a former asylum seeker, the housing authorities must take into account a local link: an applicant can only have a local link to the Isles of Scilly if he has lived in the area for two and a half years from the three years immediately preceding the application. A local link cannot be acquired through employment, a family association, special circumstances or a departure from care. [4] An LHA is not obliged to take into account the local link in its investigations into the housing obligation that may be due, nor is it required to turn to another LHA, as the power to do so is discretionary.
If the investigations have taken some time, the local authority should check whether the circumstances that could lead to the establishment of a local connection have changed. [6] The applicant must actually work in the territory of the municipality, where the employer`s place of residence in a region does not establish a local link. [19] 10.2 Local authorities have jointly agreed on guidelines for local authorities on procedures for referrals between themselves and for resolving disputes arising when housing authorities are unable to agree on whether the conditions for removal from one authority to another are met. Although these procedures have been adopted by community organisations in England, Scotland and Wales and are now widely used, housing authorities are reminded that they must consider each case individually on the basis of its own specific facts. .