‘What is reasonable?’ London council leader says housing options often local B&B or moving 250 miles

EXCLUSIVE: Grace Williams says no London council is sending homeless families to the North East without being forced to by a lack of affordable housing locally

A London council leader says the temporary housing crisis is pushing boroughs to the brink of bankruptcy, and a lack of affordable homes means they often have a choice between a local B&B or relocating families outside the city.

Cllr Grace Williams, Leader of Waltham Forest Council and Deputy Chair of London Councils (a collective of all 32 boroughs), said each authority is experiencing a major shortfall in their budgets with £5.5m spent collectively a day housing homeless people. To reduce some of the costs and avoid financial catastrophe, many boroughs have been forced to send families to cheaper parts of England such as the North East.

MyLondon’s Broken Homes campaign has been highlighting the ‘take it or leave it’ offers families are facing, with residents reporting that they feel forced to agree to unsuitable housing or long-distance relocation under threat of being left on the streets.

Councils can discharge their statutory duty to help someone if they deem them to be making themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ by refusing a reasonable offer of housing. This terms is increasingly being attached to people who say no to moving a long distance, even if it’s as much as 275 miles away.

Cllr Williams has described temporary accommodation as the biggest financial crisis facing London boroughs.

“No London borough sends a family out of London without being forced to do so,” she told MyLondon in an exclusive interview. “The choices London councils are facing is to find somewhere affordable for them or to keep them in a B&B which costs even more.

“The housing market is so connected. Costs going up in one part of London means all of us will pay the price. When we’re looking for affordable housing it’s often the case this is only available outside of London and potentially really far away.”

Despite Hillingdon mum Soheila Serkhani being forced to sofa surf after refusing her sole option of moving 275 miles away to Hartlepool in County Durham, Cllr Williams has rejected MyLondon’s idea of a universal distance cap on temporary accommodation placements.

“There’s a very strong legal framework, every local authority must fulfil their legal duty to provide housing,” she said. “We don’t want to send families to the North East, but if the choice is between being able to settle someone into a home that they can afford or for them to live for months or years in hotels, what would residents think is reasonable what we do?”

Although there have been alarming instances of families being moved to Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Middlesbrough on a temporary basis, a MyLondon investigation which involved sending Freedom of Information requests to all 33 local authorities in the city revealed that Essex and Kent have mostly borne the brunt of the crisis.

In Harlow, Essex some 13 empty office blocks have been converted into housing units for homeless people. Enfield Council’s housing arm has even taken to buying Greenway House – a converted office building in a remote business park – to send its residents.

Lewisham mum Chiara Repetti, 32, who was moved to Templefields House in Harlow with her two children earlier this year described it as a “prison”, adding that her life ‘isn’t in her hands anymore’ while she can’t afford the train back to London.

This influx of homeless families has put severe pressure on Harlow itself, forcing the Essex council to purchase Terminus House, a 14-storey former office block in the town centre, to stop it being used to house homeless Londoners.

Dan Swords, Leader of Harlow Council, described the trend of London boroughs “dumping” their homeless families outside the city as “unjust”. “They’re literally shipping people with no support to somewhere they don’t want to be in often sub-standard accommodation,” he added.

Despite this, Cllr Williams said the financial crisis means London councils often face no option but to look for homes in other parts of England which are more affordable.

The Waltham Forest leader is calling on the government to commit to three policies that could make a difference to London councils within a year. She said: “We need capital funding for procuring temporary accommodation, whether that’s buying or leasing homes. That’s the biggest thing we can do – move families to homes they can afford.

“The second thing is ending the discrepancy between the subsidy we get for temporary accommodation and what the local housing allowance is. That means families will be able to afford it. At the moment taxpayers are footing the bill that should be covered by the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions).

“Lastly, the local housing allowance needs to be increased and tracked to price increases so we can support low income tenants. This could all help us immediately.”

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