March 13, 2024

AKA -v- London Borough of Hackney (anonymity order)

Administrative Court High Court King's Bench Division Anonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2024-LON-000736

In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
Administrative Court

13 March 2024

Before:

Her Honour Judge Karen Walden-Smith sitting as a Judge of the High Court

Between:

AKA

-v-

London Borough of Hackney

Order

On an application by the Claimant for anonymity, for interim relief and for the Defendant to respond to the application for interim relief
Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant

ORDER by Her Honour Judge Karen Walden-Smith sitting as a Judge of the High Court

1. The Claimant shall be known as AKA and his two brothers should be known respectively as KA and ARA in all court orders and judgments.

2. There should be no publication of any name or details that is capable of leading to the identification of the Claimant or his brothers.

3. ARA is given permission to be an interested party in the claim.

4. The Defendant has until 4pm on Friday 15 March to respond to the application for interim relief for the accommodation of AKA and his brother and carer ARA and to make any representations with respect to ARA being joined as an interested party.

5.The papers shall be returned for consideration by a Judge on Monday 18 March 2024.

Reasons

1. On the basis of the Claimant’s documentation the Claimant appears to be making a well-founded application that the Defendant is failing to provide suitable accommodation for the Claimant and that he is entitled to an interim injunction in accordance with the principles in American Cynamid.

2. The Claimant and his two brothers fled to the UK from Iraq in September 2021. They were provided with accommodation separately across the UK by the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The Claimant was subjected to a brutal attack in August 2022 when he was stabbed in the heart, chest and abdomen. He has subsequently undergone multiple surgeries and now suffers long-term physical and mental injuries. As a consequence of those injuries, the Claimant suffers mobility problems, ongoing pain and is susceptible to chronic infection. He suffers from PTSD and depression, including suicidal ideation and anxiety, and has difficulty sleeping. Both the Claimant and ARA were granted refugee status in November 2023 and the support and accommodation they had previously been provided by the SSHD came to an end.

3. The Claimant and ARA made a homelessness application on 6 December 2023. The Clamant was accommodated in temporary accommodation by the Defendant on 2 January 2024 and the Claimant’s brother, ARA, moved to be with his brother on 9 January 2024 in order to assist and care for him.

4. The temporary accommodation provided by the Defendant is one room up two flights of stairs and with a shared bathroom in a three storey hostel. There are no facilities for washing clothes and the Claimant relies upon his brother going to a launderette; the shared bathroom is said not to be clean which increases the Claimant’s risk of infection; and it is said that there are broken windows in both the room and in the shared bathroom making the rooms cold. There is only a bath in the bathroom which the Claimant is unable to use due to his wounds.

5. ARA is also suffering from gallstones and is in pain and on a waiting list for treatment. He is suffering from insomnia since he has moved to look after his brother.

6. Both the Claimant and ARA are said to be suffering increased mental health issues as a consequence of their current living conditions and the physical health of the Claimant is being adversely impacted.

7. The account of the Claimant and ARA set out the extremely serious consequences of a failure to comply with section 188 of the HA 1996 and the duties to make reasonable adjustments and to comply with the public sector equality duty. The Defendant needs to be given an opportunity to respond to the application before the Court determines whether it is appropriate to compel the provision of alternative suitable accommodation and the Defendant should be given a short period of time to respond to the Claimant’s account.

8. Once the Defendant has had that opportunity, by 4pm on Friday 15 March, the application for interim relief should be reconsidered.