Council 'Suspends' Long Distance Re-Housing Policy

An east London council has suspended its policy of re-housing families long distances away in favour of a more focused approach to support people hit by housing benefit cuts.  Waltham Forest Council - which has already re-housed 14 families in Luton and five in Margate - also recently acquired affordable accommodation in Walsall, 138 miles away.  However, according to the BBC, the council has now suspended the "problematic" policy after fewer than expected families took up the offer. It concluded that re-locating families as far afield as Walsall was a "step too far" and that it had been "largely rejected by residents".  The council - which currently has 21,000 people on its housing waiting list - is understood to now be "more rigorously" considering work, school and family ties and was also looking to join a consortium of London councils aimed at "re-assigning tenants back to their respective boroughs." Read more on the BBC website.