Meaning of intentionally homelessness

The Housing Act 1996 s191 states:-

‘(1) A person becomes homeless intentionally if he deliberately does or fails to do anything in consequence of which he ceases to occupy accommodation which is available for his occupation and which it would have been reasonable for him to continue to occupy.’

In Steward v Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames (2006), it was argued before the County Court that a finding that a Traveller was intentionally homeless because she had left conventional housing 6 years previously, was incorrect for two principle reasons:

• because the decision failed to take account of the fact that Gypsies and Travellers have great difficulty in finding authorised sites due to the acknowledged lack of such sites; and
  
• because Ms Steward had been on at least four ‘unauthorised encampments’ subsequently where no eviction action had been taken against her for very long periods and thus it could be said that she had been ‘permitted’ to stay on those sites (see the definition of homelessness above).
  

Thus it was argued that, as Ms Steward had been permitted to stay at those sites for some time, her eviction from them amounted to a new incident of homelessness on each occasion. Both these arguments were rejected by the County Court and the matter is now being considered by the Court of Appeal.