ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the ‘appropriate applicant’ involves a consideration of two related themes: the applicant must be, in the opinion of the person administering the legislation, morally deserving and ‘deservingness’ is given a further statutory overlay, which relates it to the supply of available accommodation. In order to be successful under the 1985 Act, the local authority was required to find the applicant homeless, in priority need, and not intentionally homeless. A significant number of officers described themselves explicitly as gatekeepers. The term ‘resources’ is being used to mean not only the supply of accommodation but also the ratio of officers to cases they handled. The National Assistance Act 1948 was part of the ‘new’ social welfare legislation produced by the Labour government which came to power at the end of the Second World War.
