It seems that, as the demands on local authority housing stock increase, more disabled people are looking to community care legislation to meet their housing needs.
HOUSING
R (Ireneschild) v Lambeth LBC [2006] EWCA Civ 2354 (Admin), [2006] All ER (D) 31 (Sep) was a decision in which a London authority acted unlawfully when faced with such a situation by undertaking what seems a half-hearted community care assessment.
It is, however, possible to feel some sympathy for the authority because the High Court does not appear to have addressed the point that,
despite the conclusions of any assessment, it may simply have been unlawful for the social services arm of the authority to have stepped in to provide the housing that would have taken years to appear if the applicant had waited her turn in the authority’s housing queue.
The facts
Linda Ireneschild had a serious accident in 1992 which left her unable to move unsupported and having to use a wheelchair out of doors. In addition, since 2005 she has been doubly incontinent. She rented a flat from Lambeth where
