Councils in London have spent more than £ 140 million to break up houses outside the city to move homeless people.
Local authorities in the capital have acquired more than 850 properties in England since 2017, with many in the most disadvantaged areas in the east and southeast of the country, the Guardian reported.
Bizarre enough, some London councils have already bought properties in the Midlands and are planning to send some people to Liverpool and the northeast.
Civil servants identified 704 people who live on the streets of the capital between October and December last year – an increase of 26 percent compared to the previous year.
In the meantime, a total of 4,612 people appeared to sleep roughly, an increase of five percent compared to the previous year.
People are supposed to live on the street if they have been roughly seen several times over a period of three weeks or more.
In order to tackle the scope of the problem, and confronted with an extreme shortage of social housing and upright private rental prices, more than a dozen local authorities – and the housing companies that they partially have – have invested heavily in real estate outside the borders of London.
The non-London homes are used to accommodate homeless people or families as a temporary emergency accommodation or permanently as a private house.
Councils in London have spent more than £ 140 million to break houses outside the city to move homeless people
Civil servants identified 704 people who live on the streets of the capital between October and December last year – an increase of 26 percent compared to the previous year. In the meantime, a total of 4,612 people appeared to sleep roughly, an increase of five percent compared to the year before
Among them, Waltham Forest and Bromley councils have spent almost £ 80 million on the acquisition of more than 500 houses at locations such as Harlow and Thurrock in Essex and Maidstone in Kent. Shown: Waltham Forest Town Hall
However, the policy of sending homeless people in London elsewhere in the country is not always welcomed by local residents.
The majority of the acquired property is located in disadvantaged regions of the east and the southeast, which are already confronted for challenges that relate to their own homeless population.
London councils have bought 84 houses for accommodation outside the city in Basildon in Essex, who already has 700 households who live in emergency accommodation.
Between them, Waltham Forest and Bromley, through the Housing and Social Care Company Mears Group, which they own, have almost £ 80 million spent on the acquisition of more than 500 houses at locations such as Harlow and Thurrock in Essex and Maidstone in Kent.
Brent Council has bought more than 75 properties in Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead and Slough, for an amount of £ 18 million.
In the meantime, Enfield Council, via Housing Gateway – which they own – has postponed £ 13 million in 2018 to acquire a converted office block in Harlow that contains 83 flats used as temporary accommodation.
Enfield Council is also planning to make 28 houses in Liverpool this year to use as a temporary accommodation, while it is looking for permanent options for people on Merseyside.
Likewise, Barnet Council has acquired nearly 70 houses in Peterborough and Luton, while Redbridge Council has bought 55 property for an amount of more than £ 10 million, with some as far away as Coventry and Leicester.
Residents of a camp in Mayfair were forced to leave in October 2024 after the council had cleared them up
A camp of 11 tents, however, appeared on a small grass island opposite the Lane Hilton park – one of the most exclusive areas of London
Naushabah Khan, the Labor Parliament member for Gillingham and Rainham, who are also in the housing committee, said that the policy of moving houseless people was the result of a 'scars of a deeply damaged housing market', which meant that “this last-resort practice became the norm.”
Housing Charities have warned about the catastrophic impact outside the city relocations can have on families.
Polly Neate, the Chief Executive of the Housing Charity Shelter, said: 'While the bill on the emergency situation continues to rock, families pay the ultimate price.
'On top of the trauma to become homeless, the lives of families are thrown into further unrest by mile of their community moving, often at night.
'Councils are intended to accommodate families that become homeless in their own area, but a terrible shortage of social houses, excessive private rental prices and the absorption of homelessness makes this increasingly difficult.
'As a result, families are moved to places where they do not have a support network and are confronted with tiring and expensive journeys to work or the schools of their children.
'Instead of sinking money in temporary solutions, we must see social houses built in areas where they are most needed.
“The government must use the June review to invest in 90,000 social houses for ten years – this would save the taxpayer money, increase jobs, improve the opportunities of children and put an end to homelessness.”
MailOnline has contacted London Councils for comment.
