Many London councils are routinely using the threat of homelessness to pressure people into accepting offers that are far away from their support networks
MyLondon is calling on the UK Government to ban councils from making people homeless if they refuse to move long distances – sign our petition.
An unfair housing rule allows local authorities to deem someone ‘intentionally homeless’ if they refuse an offer of housing and they deem that an ‘unreasonable refusal’.
Long distance housing offers are routinely being made by councils in London because of the shortage of homes locally, with more families asking for help all the time due to London’s housing crisis, and landlords using ‘no fault’ evictions to turf people out.
But through MyLondon’s Broken Homes campaign, we’ve reported on multiple cases of Londoners being told they have to accept a long distance offer – whether temporary or permanent – or the council will discharge its legal duty to house them, meaning they are homeless and on their own.
What is MyLondon calling for?
Councils should be able to make long distance offers to ease pressure on housing waiting lists, and in some cases moving far outside London is a good option for people with nowhere to live. However we are calling for an end to what’s effectively blackmail by making it illegal for councils to discharge their duty if someone refuses on offer more than 90 minutes away.
How can I help?
Sign our petition to the UK Government, which asks them to ‘ban councils from discharging their housing duty if a person refuses a long distance offer’.
Londoners are being moved to temporary accommodation in Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Middlesbrough, sometimes for years at a time.
They still have to pay council rent but often have to quit their job locally to move and find work in the new location.
People are pulled far away from their support network to an area they do not know. If such an offer is made, it needs to be the person’s choice, and not an ultimatum that they accept it or end up sofa surfing, or even on the streets.
Keeping someone in their home borough is increasingly hard and councils have little choice but to look further afield. But councils exploiting cheaper housing in areas like the North East means people having to move hundreds of miles.
Check out our Broken Homes project, which lays out the different facets of the housing crisis, from hotels full of homeless families and tower blocks riddled with pests, to newbuild failures and towns outside London being filled with its homeless households.
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