Politics

UK weighs ban on London councils relocating homeless families

Out-of-area placements spread as boroughs chase cheaper temporary housing, intermediaries profit while courts find some moves unlawful

Images

Houses in Hartlepool. Some London families have been sent to the town, whose MP said the policy was increasing local tension. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Houses in Hartlepool. Some London families have been sent to the town, whose MP said the policy was increasing local tension. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian theguardian.com
Enfield Civic Centre. Enfield is one of the councils that has used Reloc8, a company that specialises in moving homeless families out of the capital. Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy Enfield Civic Centre. Enfield is one of the councils that has used Reloc8, a company that specialises in moving homeless families out of the capital. Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy theguardian.com

UK ministers are considering banning London councils from placing homeless families hundreds of miles away, after years of “out-of-area” moves driven by the capital’s housing costs. The Guardian reports that MPs and charities say vulnerable people — including women fleeing domestic abuse — are being pushed into a choice between rough sleeping and relocation to cheap, sparsely furnished accommodation far from their support networks.

The proposal would tighten a system that already contains nominal limits. Under the Housing Act, councils must secure accommodation “so far as reasonably practical” within their own borough, and must notify the receiving authority when households are placed elsewhere. Yet housing lawyers, charities and council leaders told the Guardian that some councils routinely ignore the spirit — and sometimes the letter — of those duties, with several found by the high court to have acted unlawfully in recent years.

The economics are straightforward: London boroughs carry the statutory obligation to house, while the supply of affordable homes is constrained and the nightly cost of temporary accommodation is politically toxic. Moving households out of area shifts immediate spending pressure off the originating council’s budget line and onto a private supply chain of intermediaries, landlords and purchasing vehicles. The Guardian says some councils pay millions to companies that arrange placements, and that around a dozen local authorities spent more than £140m last year buying properties outside London to house homeless people.

That spending does not remove the underlying shortage; it exports the consequences. MPs argue the practice increases local tension in receiving areas and fractures schooling, healthcare access and safeguarding arrangements for families. Charities told the Guardian that some domestic abuse survivors have returned to abusers rather than move away, while others remain stuck in emergency refuges.

Homelessness minister Alison McGovern called the practice a “real worry” and said the government is prepared to clamp down on the worst forms after a review. Any ban is expected to include exceptions for people who need to leave London, but MPs are pressing for a hard distance limit to stop councils using geography as a cost-control tool.

The Guardian’s reporting names one specialist firm that has been paid by London boroughs to facilitate relocations. If ministers do impose a tighter rule, councils will still have the same legal duty to house — just with fewer places left to send the bill.