Deputy PM's warning to councils moving families - North East reaction

Angela Rayner made the intervention after an extensive investigation by The Northern Echo revealed how councils were moving people hundreds of miles from friends and family into homes and abandoning them with no support - without telling local authorities.

The Echo has previously revealed how one family was left in a home with broken windows and was being intimidated at night by men in balaclavas peering in through their windows.

She has written to all the councils across the country to warn them that the practice is illegal and also reinforced the strain it places on other regions, whilst praising this newspaper for its "persistent coverage of this issue and highlighting this poor practice".

Mary Kelly Foy, MP for the City of Durham, said: "I'm pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister has listened to the concerns that I have raised with her, and reminded London Borough Councils of their legal requirement to inform receiving council's that people are being relocated to their area.

"This is a good first step, but simply informing Durham County Council that people are arriving doesn't negate the fact that these often vulnerable people and families are being moved miles away from any of their existing support networks, and these councils are putting pressure on housing stock and support services in the North East.

"That's why it is vital that, as the Deputy PM has indicated, we get on with building new homes to ensure that there is enough housing stock for those who need it, in every part of the country."

(Image: London Portrait Photoqrapher-DAVID WOOLFALL) Chris Bailey, National Campaign Manager for Action on Empty Homes, said: "This is a bad deal for everyone.

"It’s a bad deal for the vulnerable families moved to already impoverished towns like Ferryhill in the North East, where the local council says 10% of the town has been moved up there from London. These are families entitled to decent affordable, lifetime social tenancies in London and instead moved hundreds of miles away, in many cases with no support, into inadequate and low quality accommodation and without informing the local council’s whose area they are moved into. This further exacerbates the lack of support; and as Angela Rayner has said, is potentially also breaking the law.

"It's also a bad deal for the North East. This is an area, like areas across the country, with its own housing shortages, and the London Councils moving families ‘up North’ are making that worse by out-bidding the local councils to nab what little rental housing is available.

"What’s ironic is that down in London there’s now more empty homes out of use than there are in the North East, vacancy is actually higher in London than in every region of England except the South West. Councils down there are going on about giving Londoners ‘first dibs’ on new homes they can’t afford and at the same time they are literally exiling the poor to other parts of the country.

"It is as if the towns of County Durham and Teesside are being turned into the equivalent of London’s modern day leper colonies. And for the families sent into exile up there, through no fault of their own, there’s not a rescue boat coming anytime soon."

(Image: Parliament) Grahame Morris, MP for Easington, said: "I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister telling Local Authority Chief Executives of their legal obligations in relation to out-of-area placements.

"However, London Council Chief Executives and Housing Directors know their duties and are choosing to break the law, exploiting vulnerable homeless families at their most desperate time in need. Councils must stop this illegal practice.

"While this intervention is a step forward, only sanctions and accountability will put an end to this practice."

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A spokesperson for London Councils, the organisation representing all the borough councils, said: "Boroughs take their legal responsibilities in relation to out-of-area placements extremely seriously and are committed to notifying local authorities when temporary accommodation placements are made in their area.

"Out-of-London placements are only made as a last resort when no suitable local options are available – or to support homeless families when they have a preference for relocating outside the capital. The vast majority of these placements are made in local authority areas just outside London, and boroughs aim to provide the wider support with settling that residents may require

"Given the scale of homelessness in London and chronic shortage of affordable housing, reducing out-of-area placements – and ultimately ending homelessness – will need national policy solutions and we are committed to working with the government to develop these."