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Croydon hits out at ‘thoughtless’ Home Office after being outbid on temporary accommodation

A south London borough has accused the “thoughtless” Home Office of forcing homeless families out of temporary accommodation, after it was outbid for accommodation in the borough. 

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Stonebridge Lodge in Croydon (picture: Google Street View)
Stonebridge Lodge in Croydon (picture: Google Street View)
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A south London borough has accused the “thoughtless” Home Office of forcing homeless families out of temporary accommodation, after it was outbid for accommodation in the borough #ukhousing

Croydon hits out at ‘thoughtless’ Home Office after being outbid on temporary accommodation #ukhousing

Croydon Council said the government department “breezed in… waving its cash, gazumped our housing team and has given local families in need weeks to get out” after it purchased a 10-year lease on Stonebridge Lodge in Thornton Heath.

The property – which has been used by the council to house up to 80 homeless families at a time for several years – will now be used as asylum seeker accommodation by the Home Office.


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This means the council will need to move existing residents out of the property and the number of homes it has to use as temporary accommodation in the area will be reduced.

Jo Negrini, chief executive of Croydon Council, has written to home secretary Priti Patel calling on her to reverse the decision.

The council said that the Home Office won the lease by bidding a price above a recent pan-London agreement between local councils in London that limits the prices paid for nightly let B&Bs, especially through block bookings.

In her letter, below, Ms Negrini wrote: “We are already struggling to place households locally, so for the Home Office to then procure this accommodation with no discussions with us, both undermines local authorities’ attempts to control costs and depletes our supply of local accommodation.

“Given this impact on us, we are disappointed the Home Office did not contact us to discuss its procurement plans in Croydon.”

Writing for Inside Housing, Alison Butler, cabinet member for homes and gateway services at Croydon Council, said that the decision increased the chances of homeless families being moved out of the borough.

“Our issue is not the Home Office finding accommodation for asylum seekers – after all, in the past decade alone Croydon has welcomed more than 5,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and we take pride in supporting them,” she wrote.

“No – it’s the way the Home Office has breezed into Stonebridge Lodge waving its cash, gazumped our housing team and given local families in need weeks to get out.”

She added: “This thoughtless Home Office decision disrupts the families who face having to leave Stonebridge Lodge and the many more for whom we will find it harder to source financially viable and suitable local alternative accommodation in future.”

At the most recent count there were 1,743 households in temporary accommodation in Croydon, including 1,257 families with children – comprising a total of 2,370 children.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

Croydon's letter to the Home Office in full

Dear Secretary of State,


Stonebridge Lodge Hotel, 290 Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey, CR7 7JE


We are formally writing to register our dissatisfaction at the Home Office decision to lease the above for 10 years and replace local homeless households with asylum-seeking families.


Croydon Council always aims to place homeless households in accommodation within our borough boundary as much as possible, not just to meet our legal obligations but to also keep families as close as possible to their support networks and limit disruptive school moves.


To do so we rely on our relationships with local providers - for more than 20 years Croydon Council’s homelessness service has used the 78 units at Stonebridge Lodge Hotel to provide a mix of shared and self-contained units for people in need.


We are already struggling to place households locally, so for the Home Office to then procure this accommodation with no discussions with us, both undermines local authorities’ attempts to control costs and depletes our supply of local accommodation. Most importantly, the impact of losing accommodation within our borough disrupts the families who face having to leave Stonebridge Lodge and the many more for whom we will find it harder to source financially-viable and suitable local alternative accommodation in future.


Given this impact on us, we are disappointed the Home Office did not contact us to discuss its procurement plans in Croydon.


These pressures in our borough are only increasing - in the last year alone, Croydon has experienced a 50% rise in demand from homeless applicants. We also have the largest population of under-18s in London.

Croydon has taken steps to reduce the use of emergency accommodation by purchasing over 250 street properties and increasing a supply of affordable homes for Croydon residents through our development company Brick by Brick, but the fact remains that we currently house more than 2,000 homeless families and have no choice but to use this type of accommodation.


Last year we and many other local authorities in London entered a ground-breaking agreement called Capital Letters, which exists to keep the cost of this type of accommodation to a minimum by ensuring councils are not competing against each other especially through the use of block bookings.


We were given the opportunity to have a contract at Stonebridge Lodge, but this was above the pan-London agreement. We therefore agreed to continue to spot purchase accommodation from this provider as needed.


We are asking you to reconsider your decision and consider the detrimental impact of any future similar agreements on local people, the housing market and the financial constraints local authorities are under.


I would welcome the opportunity to enter an urgent dialogue with you on this matter before any further decisions are taken.


Yours sincerely,

 

Jo Negrini

Chief executive

Croydon Council

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