Urgent applications in homelessness and community care cases

This webinar provided attendees with a guide to making urgent applications for support and accommodation in housing and community care cases. It covered cases involving homelessness, children in need, and asylum and immigration bail support.

The webinar addressed:

• The legal framework for applications under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (homelessness); sections 17 and 20 of the Children Act 1989 (children in need);  sections 4, 95, and 98 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (asylum support); and Schedule 10 to the Immigration Act 2016 (immigration bail support).
• The procedure for urgent homelessness appeals under section 204A of the Housing Act 1996.
• The procedure for applying for urgent interim relief.
• Practical tactics and tips.

Speakers

Maria Moodie, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Chair)
Maria has a specialist public law practice in the areas of community care (Adult and Children Act cases), human trafficking, migrant welfare, housing, and immigration and asylum law. She is specifically engaged with issues that arise from the interface between immigration and the provision of community care and welfare support.

Maria has a particular specialism in age dispute judicial review challenges, which involve cross-over issues of homelessness, dispersal, unlawful detention and removal. The broad nature of Maria's experience means that she is able to apply public law and discrimination arguments effectively in a housing law context, particularly when representing vulnerable clients.

Tessa Buchanan, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Tessa practises primarily in the fields of housing, homelessness, and community care,  with a particular focus on public law, human rights, and discrimination. She is ranked in the directories for Social Housing, Community Care, and Administrative Law and Human Rights.  She is a co-author of Housing Allocation and Homelessness: Law and Practice (6th edition, Lexis Nexis, 2022) and a contributing author to Housing Law Handbook (2nd edition, Law Society, 2020) and Gypsy and Traveller Law (3rd edition, Legal Action Group, 2020). She was Legal Aid Barrister of the Year in 2021.

Nick Bano, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Nick Bano specialises in representing homeless people, residential occupiers, and destitute & migrant households in both public law and private law disputes. He has acted in many of the most important housing law cases in recent years, including TM v Metropolitan, Forward v Aldwyck and London & Quadrant v Patrick (on the Public Sector Equality Duty in housing possession claims).

Nick is frequently involved in bringing claims relating to children’s rights and adult social care. He has an excellent grasp of the eligibility criteria and substantive rights under the Children Act and Care Act, as well as a strong tactical insight into local authority decision-making. Nick has a particular specialism in cases where social entitlements overlap with equality and discrimination law. He is the author of A Practical Guide to the Public Sector Equality in Housing (2023).

Alex Schymyck, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Alex is a public law and civil liberties barrister. He accepts instructions in Administrative and Public Law, Community Care, Court of Protection, and Mental Health. During pupillage, Alex was instructed on the Brook House Inquiry into abuse in immigration detention.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Alex taught Public Law at LSE. He continues to write about constitutional and administrative law issues relating to his area of practice and has published in Public Law, the Journal of Immigration and Asylum Law and the UK Constitutional Law Association blog.