Ali and others v Birmingham City Council; Manchester City Council v Moran [2009] UKHL 36, [2009] All ER (D) 19 (Jul)
It was proper for a local authority to decide that it would not be reasonable for a person to continue to occupy the accommodation which was available to him or her, if it would not be reasonable for the person to continue to occupy the accommodation for as long as he or she would have to do so unless the authority took action. Accommodation under s 193(2) of the Act was another kind of staging post, along the way to permanent accommodation in either the public or the private sector.
The House also ruled that Parliament had not intended that a woman who left her violent partner and found temporary shelter in a women’s refuge should no longer be considered homeless. The refuge was a mere staging post until she had decided where to go from there. It would not be reasonable for a particular woman in a refuge to continue to occupy her place there indefinitely.
Women would be homeless whilst they were in a refuge
