Councils strike deal on out-of-London homeless moves

New figures, compiled by umbrella group London Councils and seen by Inside Housing, reveal that London boroughs housed 471 households outside the capital between April to June this year, a rise of 33% compared to the year before.

Inside Housing can reveal that nine London boroughs met with seven councils in the West Midlands last month following concerns that they are “outbidding” boroughs outside the capital for private accommodation for homeless families.

Councils outside London say they struggle to match the level of incentives offered by boroughs in the capital, meaning authorities such as Birmingham City Council struggle to find available stock.

The London boroughs, which house families or plan to house families in the West Midlands, pledged to agree on a “collaborative” incentive sum that they will pay landlords if they continue to operate the area.

Incentive payments are council sums paid to landlords over and above housing benefit in order to encourage them to let to low-income households.

Inside Housing exclusively revealed earlier this year that London boroughs had paid a total of £17.7m in incentives to private landlords between 2012 and 2015.

The incentive payments will be agreed between the London authorities that operate or plan to operate in the West Midlands. Information on levels of payment will be shared with councils in the West Midlands.

Jim Crawshaw, head of homelessness at Birmingham City Council, said: “We will [therefore] know what [councils] will pay, so that when I get that phone call [from a landlord], saying “well Mark down in Ealing says he’ll give us a £3,000 incentive”, I can say “I’ve spoken to Mark and my understanding is that London boroughs are paying £1,000’.”

Mark Meehan, director of housing demand at Croydon Council, said London boroughs were open to similar schemes with other local authorities around the country.

London boroughs have also started writing quarterly to the 10 councils outside the capital that they send the most homeless households to, in response to concerns that town halls have not been properly informed about the placements.

Thurrock Council, in Essex, topped the list for most out-of-London homeless placements between April and June this year, receiving 64 households over the three months, while Medway Council was second with 45.