Arun District Council has been criticised after a housing watchdog found it had not properly dealt with requests for changes to a home for residents with health and accessibility needs.
The Housing Ombudsman found the council had failed to properly answer residents’ questions, not considered other ways of meeting their needs or shown how it had taken its Equality Act duties into account.
There were also delays in responding to advice from Occupational Therapists.
The residents had been moved to the property after experiencing serious antisocial behaviour and racial harassment.
The council was ordered to apologise, pay £400 compensation, explain its decisions and carry out a senior management review. It has completed all of these orders.
The council has since introduced mandatory Occupational Therapy assessments for cases involving medical or accessibility needs, as well as new checks to improve decision making and record keeping.
The findings are included in a report covering housing complaints between April and June.
There were 56 formal complaints during the three month period, with 44% fully upheld and 33% partially upheld.
However, the overall number of complaints fell by 24% compared to the same period last year.
Repairs remained the biggest source of complaints, although they had fallen by a third.
The council also recorded 48 compliments about its housing during the same quarter.
The report will be considered by the Housing and Wellbeing Committee on Thursday, September 24.
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