Tory Borough Plans to Move Homeless Away From London

Homeless people face being moved outside their local area into rented accommodation rather than being placed on a waiting list for council housing under plans considered by a flagship Tory borough, according to leaked documents obtained by the Guardian.  Hammersmith & Fulham council admitted last week it was in talks, along with Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, to relocate 500 families on benefits to the Midlands – but said any agreement would not result in a large-scale exodus.  However, Hammersmith & Fulham's new strategy makes it clear that anyone claiming to be homeless will now be offered accommodation "potentially outside the borough" – a break with past policy which sought to offer the destitute a local home until they were allocated council housing.  This thinking extends to planning policy: more than 10,000 homes will be given planning consent in the borough this year, yet not one will be available to the poor on a social rent, even though mayor Boris Johnson's London plan requires a quarter of new developments to be available to those on low wages.  The authority admits its policy will "end the previously assumed link between a homelessness application and a social housing tenancy".  Read more on the Guardian website.