Families Threaten Council With Legal Action Over Allocation Policy

A group of families is preparing to take a London council to court as they claim the authority’s housing allocation policy discriminates against homeless people.  The families, some of which claim to have been in temporary accommodation for more than 10 years, said the amount of time they have been left waiting for permanent accommodation in the borough of Camden is “indefensible”.

Camden Council denied that its policy is discriminatory and said it has met its statutory duty in all the families’ cases. However, the solicitor who is representing the families, said that the council’s allocation policy means many homeless families that are placed in temporary accommodation are “more or less stuck there indefinitely”. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/families-threaten-council-with-legal-action-over-allocation-policy--62973?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

More Than 66,000 London Homes Left Standing Empty

More than 5% of residential properties in some inner London boroughs are considered empty or second homes for council tax purposes, Inside Housing research has found. Despite decreases recently, more than 66,000 properties across 22 London boroughs remain empty, and more than a quarter of the 6,500 homes in the City of London are not in permanent use. Westminster, Camden and Tower Hamlets all have more than one in 20 homes classified as empty or second, while even some outer London boroughs, including Redbridge and Hounslow, have more than 2.5%. The 66,000 empty homes is a decrease from 75,000 in the same boroughs in 2010. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Plans to Move 761 Poor Families from London

A council is planning the largest single displacement of poor people from London in the wake of the coalition government's controversial welfare reforms, singling out more than 700 families to be moved up to 200 miles away.  Camden council said that it would shortly be contacting 761 households, comprising 2,816 adults and children, because the coalition's benefit cap – which limits total welfare payments to £500 a week for families – will mean that they will be unable to afford their current accommodation or any other home in the south-east.  The Labour-controlled council warns that the majority of these families have three children and, once the cap is imposed this summer, will need to find on average an additional £90 a week for rent to remain in their homes – which means "sadly the only long-term solution for some households will be to move".  The local authority says it has been forced to look as far afield as Bradford, Birmingham and Leicester and warns that 900 schoolchildren – more than one child for each class as an average across the borough's schools – face having their education disrupted by the move.  Read more on the Guardian website.

Council Offers Tenants £25,000 to Downsize

A London local authority is offering tenants up to £25,000 to move to smaller properties to reduce overcrowding and the impact of the government’s ‘bedroom tax’.  Camden is prepared to pay £25,000 to tenants who move from a six bedroom home, £20,000 for those who downsize from a five bedroom home, and £15,000 for those who give up a four bedroom home.  The offer is designed to free-up large, under-occupied council properties to make way for families that are currently living in overcrowded conditions. Camden has more than 5,000 families in overcrowded conditions, and estimates around 60 per cent of its 1,380 properties with four or more bedrooms are under-occupied. The move is also intended to limit the impact the government’s bedroom tax will have on tenants and the council. Read more on the Camden Council website.

Borough in Promise to Keep Homes

A London borough has pledged not to sell off any of its council homes as part of a new community investment programme. Camden Council will also offer ‘reassurances’ on security of tenure and rents for its tenants. Despite suffering some of the largest cuts in London to capital funding from central Government Camden has created its own ‘plan B’ to find vital funds to invest in schools, community facilities and council homes. This is called the community investment programme (CIP). Through the CIP Camden aims to deliver:
*One of the capital’s largest social housing programmes in a generation with over 850 new council and shared ownership family homes built in Camden.
*Over 1,200 new private homes built.
*£119m invested in repairs to over 10, 000 existing council flats.
*Plans to spend £117m on improving 57 of the borough’s schools and children’s centres, and
*Other community facilities receiving investment including plans to rebuild or refurbish community centres and securing the long term future of parks and historic buildings.
Read more on the Camden Council website.