An East London council has described the city’s housing system as ‘completely broken’ as data shows one family from the borough spent more than eight years in temporary accommodation (TA) 252 miles away. Data obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) found a Newham family-of-four were living in TA in Middlesbrough for over eight years.
As of December 2024, the data showed some families had been in TA in Wolverhampton (146 miles), Oldham (232 miles) and Birmingham (134 miles) for several years. The data, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, found the number of Newham households in TA outside of London has more than doubled since 2022.
The number of households in TA outside of London has risen from 161 in 2022, to 311 in 2023, and 438 in 2024.
Green Street West. Image: Newham Labour
Amar Virdee, Cabinet Member for Housing Needs, Homelessness and Private Rented Sector at Newham Council said it has become ‘increasingly challenging’ to house residents within the borough, due to rising costs and significant demand.
The East London borough currently has more than 7,200 households in TA, which is the highest in the country. The council is seeing around 50 new cases each month. The TA figures have caused a huge strain on the council’s finances, and significant cuts have been made after the council reported a £157 million budget gap by 2027/28.
As of December 2024, the highest number of families in TA were found in Slough (40 miles) while Chatham (30 miles) came second followed by Brentwood (22 miles), Harlow (23 miles) and Basildon (25 miles). Other households in TA included places such as Grays (16 miles), Tilbury (19 miles), Loughton (12 miles), Waltham Cross (22 miles) and South Ockendon (14 miles).
As of December 2024, a family-of-three had spent the longest amount of time in TA in Birmingham, having moved there in November 2012. The second longest was a family-of-four in Chigwell, having moved there in March 2013, while a family-of-five had been living in Wolverhampton also since March 2013.
When the LDRS presented the data to Newham Council, Mr Virdee said: “In the short to medium term there is no way of building our way out of this crisis. The housing system across London is completely broken. Our housing team work tirelessly to secure accommodation within, or as close to, Newham as possible to help keep residents in the borough. However, due to the significant demand and rising costs, this is becoming increasingly challenging.”
He went on to say the council currently places 60.4% of its TA households within Newham, while 87.7% are in Newham or the neighbouring boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham and Greenwich – overall 93.8% of households are placed within London.
Mr Virdee added: “The council has a legal duty to house those who present as homeless and the pressure on the system across the whole of London is relentless. Newham Council has one of the best home building records in the country, and we also have a dynamic purchasing programme, buying up suitable affordable properties as they come to market. But even these policies cannot keep pace with the demand for affordable accommodation.
“We are hard working with the new Labour government and the GLA (Greater London Authority) to find long term solutions to fix the broken housing system.”
The LDRS also presented its findings to the homelessness charity, Crisis.
Matt Downie, CEO of Crisis, said: “Our housing and homelessness system is broken. It is shameful that we have record numbers of households stuck in temporary accommodation across England, with hundreds of thousands of children growing up never knowing a home of their own. Councils are being forced to rely on costly sticking plaster solutions simply because we do not have enough social homes, leaving families trapped for years in unsuitable temporary accommodation.”
Mr Downie added: “Many are placed far away from their support networks, where they struggle to meet extra costs such as transport to school and work and cooking without a kitchen – causing real damage to their physical and mental health. This cannot continue. The Westminster government must be courageous through its upcoming homelessness strategy and put in place solutions we need to end homelessness, including building the social homes we need. Only then can we ensure everyone has the security of a safe and stable home.”
