Presentation given by JJ Costello, Shelter Cymru, Wales at a FEANTSA conference on "People who are homeless can be housed: An insight into successful practices from across Europe", Cardiff, Wales, 2008

1. A Judiciable Right to
Housing in Practice
Good Practice Workshop
JJ Costello

2. Shelter Cymru
 A charity
 A dual focussed campaigning and service
provider organisation
 Serving a Welsh population of 2.95 million

3. Welsh Housing Context
 1.32 million homes
 73% owner occupied
 12% local authority rented
 10% private rented
 5% other socially rented
 Unfit properties (2004) are 4.8% of total
 Average house price - £158,000 (200,000 euro)
 Average rental - £525 a month (664 euro)
 Average earnings - £27,447 a year (35,000 euro)
 Homelessness – 14,875 households contacted local
authorities regarding homelessness (2007)
 80,000 on lists for social housing

4. Shelter Cymru’s Services
 80 people involved in delivering advice and
support services to people in housing need
 Cost of £3.1 million (3.9 million euro)
 Assist approx. 7000 households a year
Homelessness Status
35
30 2000-2001
25 2001-2002
20
%
2002-2003
15
10 2003-2004
5 2004-2005
Imminently
0
Term Risk
Homeless
Homeless
Roofless
Homeless
Statutory
2005-2005
Medium
Not 2006-2007
2007-2008

5. Welsh Rights
English and Welsh law provides rights:
 The right to help and/or housing for certain
categories of homeless households in certain
circumstances
 The right to ‘quiet enjoyment’ for tenants
 The ‘right to repair’ for tenants
 The right to possession for landlords only after
due process
 Help with housing costs for those on low
incomes

6. Rights-based services
Shelter Cymru employs:
- Housing law caseworkers
- Debt advisers
- Benefit advisers
- Support workers
- Housing solicitors

7. Rights-based services
(Cont’d)
Shelter Cymru offers:
 Free, independent and confidential advice,
advocacy and legal representation
 Available from well-used accessible community
locations
 Supported by funding from the Legal Services
Commission, the Welsh Assembly Government and
local authorities

8. How rights are used in
practice
Homelessness
 Advising people of their right to help
 Enforcing rights through advocacy and legal
action
 Clarifying and developing the primary law
through case-law
 Alerting elected members to breaches in law
 Alerting regulators to individual and systematic
breaches
 Working with those who administer the rights to
address failure

9. How rights are used in
practice (Cont’d)
Harassment and illegal eviction
 Pre-emptive injunctions
 Ex-parte injunctions
 Prosecutions and compensation
Repairs
 Orders to carry out repairs
 Local authorities undertake in default
 Prosecutions and compensation

10. How rights are used in
practice (Cont’d)
Possession and due process
 Defending possession proceedings
 Pre-action protocols
Help with housing costs
 Advice upon entitlement
 Appeals against adverse decisions

11. The net result
In homelessness cases, outcomes are known in
75% of cases
 51% of households enabled to stay in their
homes
 35% of households assisted into other
accommodation

12. A Judiciable Right to
Housing in Practice
Good Practice Workshop
JJ Costello