Social Welfare Lawyers in the Centre of Birmingham

Response of the Travellers Advice Team at Community Law Partnership to the Consultation on the English Homelessness Code of Guidance

The Community Law Partnership (CLP) is a radical, progressive firm of solicitors specialising in the law relating to Housing and Public Law. CLP incorporates the Travellers Advice Team (TAT) –  a ground breaking nationwide 24 hour advice service for Gypsies and Travellers.

This is our answer to question 14(b) in the Consultation.

There is currently one small part of the Code that deals with moveable structures such as caravans and houseboats. For ease of reference, that reads as follows:

Caravans, houseboats and other moveable accommodation

16.43 Under section 175(2) applicants are homeless if the accommodation available for their occupation is a caravan, houseboat, or other movable structure and they do Draft Homeless Code of Guidance 119 not have a place where they are entitled, or permitted, to put it and live in it. If a duty to secure accommodation arises in such cases, the housing authority is not required to make equivalent accommodation available (or provide a site or berth for the applicant’s own accommodation). However, the housing authority must consider whether such options are reasonably available, particularly where this would provide the most suitable solution to the applicant’s accommodation needs.

16.44 The circumstances described in paragraph 16.43 will be particularly relevant in the case of Gypsies and Travellers. Where a duty to secure accommodation arises but an appropriate site is not immediately available, the housing authority may need to provide an alternative temporary solution until a suitable site, or some other suitable option, becomes available. Some Gypsies and Travellers may have a cultural aversion to the prospect of ‘bricks and mortar’ accommodation. In such cases, the housing authority should seek to provide an alternative solution. However, where the housing authority is satisfied that there is no prospect of a suitable site for the time being, there may be no alternative solution. Housing authorities must give consideration to the needs and lifestyle of applicants who are Gypsies and Travellers when considering their application and how best to discharge a duty to secure suitable accommodation, in line with their obligations to act consistently with the Human Rights Act 1998, and in particular the right to respect for private life, family and the home.

According to the January 2017 English Traveller Caravan Count:

  • The number of caravans on unauthorised encampments on land owned by Travellers was 2,141.
  • The number of caravans on unauthorised encampments on land not owned by Travellers was 780.

This amounts to 13% of the Gypsy and Traveller population who live in caravans who are statutorily homeless (see Housing Act 1996 s175(2)(b)). There is a wealth of evidence on the severely detrimental effect this has on healthcare, education and the wellbeing of Gypsies and Travellers in general – see, for example, recent research carried out on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/gypsies-and-travellers-simple-solutions-living-together/gypsies-and-travellers-research-reports

There is also evidence of an increase in unauthorised encampments (see the two recent debates in Parliament). This has been exacerbated by the change in the definition of Gypsy/Traveller for planning purposes in the Government’s Planning policy for traveller sites (PPTS 2015).

PPTS 2015 at para 10 states:

Local planning authorities should, in producing their Local Plan: a) identify and update annually, a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets.

Recent research by national Gypsy/Traveller organisations has shown that most councils are failing to produce a five year supply (see Travellers Times Winter 2017 edition).

Though a few local authorities are taking steps to try and address the problem of the lack of sites (see, for example, ‘negotiated stopping’ in Leeds – http://leedsgate.co.uk/negotiated-stopping/whats-not-evaluation-negotiated-stopping-released ), the majority of local authorities are avoiding the need to provide sufficient pitches, emergency stopping places or temporary solutions. In these circumstances it is incumbent on the Government to provide robust guidance to ensure that this situation does not continue.

We would suggest the following rewording of what is currently para 16.44:

The circumstances described in paragraph 16.43 will be particularly relevant in the case of Gypsies and Travellers. Where a duty to secure accommodation arises but an appropriate site with planning permission is not immediately available, the housing authority should provide an alternative temporary solution (such as an unused or underused piece of their own land) until a suitable site, or some other suitable option, becomes available. Some Gypsies and Travellers may have a cultural aversion to the prospect of ‘bricks and mortar’ accommodation. In such cases, there is an increased emphasis on the housing authority providing an alternative solution. Housing authorities must give consideration to the needs and lifestyle of applicants who are Gypsies and Travellers when considering their application and how best to discharge a duty to secure suitable accommodation, in line with their obligations to act consistently with the Human Rights Act 1998, and in particular the right to respect for private life, family and the home. They should also have regard to their Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010 section 149.

 This Response has been endorsed by Marc Willers QC of Garden Court Chambers who specialises in cases for Gypsies and Travellers and Heine Planning who represent Gypsies and Travellers in appeals before Planning Inspectors.

10 December 2017