London borough apologises for treatment of resident who gave birth without anywhere to live

Lewisham Council has issued an apology for failing to provide a resident with interim accommodation when she was homeless and heavily pregnant.

The London borough also communicated poorly and delayed accepting the main housing duty, according to a report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).

The resident, Ms X, complained that the council failed to help her when she was asked to leave her home and then evicted from her accommodation while pregnant, leaving her homeless and sofa-surfing with her very young baby.

In the summer of 2024, Ms X approached the council for an assessment. Lewisham accepted the prevention duty and referred her to its private sector team for privately rented accommodation.

Ms X was concerned about the council's recommendation that she move out of London, as her salary would decrease if she moved out of inner London.

The council did not respond to her request to explore social housing options despite the provision of relevant documents, including proof of her pregnancy and salary.

Lewisham asked Ms X to complete an affordability assessment and confirmed it would provide interim accommodation, but the landlord withdrew the offer just two days later after Ms X had been forced to sofa-surf for a night.

The council did not inform Ms X, who chased the authority twice before being forced to give birth while homeless.

In January 2025, Lewisham offered Ms X interim accommodation. She accepted but also raised concerns about her ability to afford now that she was on maternity pay.

The resident then informed the council that the new accommodation was unsuitable as she was physically unable to access the property, and that she would arrange her own accommodation until the council found something more suitable.

She said she still had not received a bidding number for the housing register.

Lewisham took the rejection of this housing as a trigger to end its interim accommodation duty and stated that Ms X did not have a bidding number because the council had not yet accepted the main housing duty.

The resident and her child were still homeless and sofa-surfing at the time of the Ombudsman’s findings being published.

The Ombudsman found fault:

in the poor communication from the council in July and mid-September 2024 and between early November and early January 2025, when Ms X was homeless.

• in the council’s failure to tell Ms X how to apply for social housing when it assessed her in July 2024 or in response to her request
• in the council later wrongly telling the resident she could not apply until it owed her the main housing duty.
• in the council’s failure to tell Ms X when the private rented offer fell through and in response to her repeated questions about it.
• in the council’s failure to provide Ms X with interim accommodation on 4 November when she became homeless until January 2025.
• in the council failing to update its suitability assessment after Ms X gave birth.
• in the delay to decide whether the council owes the main housing duty.

Lewisham has agreed to apologise to Ms X and to accept the main housing duty and offer her temporary accommodation as well as invite her to apply to the housing register and backdate her priority to July 2024.

Additionally, the council will pay Ms X £1,750 to recognise various failings.

Cllr Will Cooper, Lewisham Council cabinet member for Better Homes, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said: “We unreservedly apologise to the resident for our failures in this case. No one should have to endure such discomfort and uncertainty, particularly during pregnancy and after welcoming a newborn baby.

“We have accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendations in full and apologised directly for our errors and the stress we caused during what should have been a happy time.

“We have discussed the case extensively with staff in order to identify where we made mistakes and how we can avoid repeating them in the future.”

The council had already agreed, in response to another 2024 Ombudsman decision, to produce an action plan to address failings in its homelessness service and will provide an update on its progress against this plan.

Harry Rodd