Dozens of homeless families being sent miles outside London as there's not enough temporary accommodation

Dozens of homeless families are being sent miles outside of London as Westminster does not have enough temporary accommodation, a new Freedom of Information (FoI) into housing figures from 2020 has shown.

Since 2020, Westminster City Council has sent people as far as 33 miles away to Southend-on-Sea, and up to 23 miles away to North Hertfordshire and South Bucks, according to analysis carried out by Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The LDRS also found the council using temporary accommodation in Thurrock, Slough, Epping Forest and Hertsmere. The distances were calculated by measuring the distances between Westminster City Council’s headquarters in Victoria to the closest border of each area outside of London.

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The council said it seeks to maximise the amount of temporary accommodation in the borough including by directly purchasing and securing private sector properties, adding 40 per cent were in the borough. The data shows the number of people in out-of-borough temporary accommodation has steadily risen from 235 in 2020 to 266 in 2024, with 2023 being the only year to experience a minor dip. The vast majority of people - 217 - are being housed in Thurrock.

In distant second place was Southend-on-Sea with 17 people, one of which has lived in the area since 2006. A household of eight has lived temporary accommodation in Thurrock since 2014 while another household of five has been there since 2012.

'This leaves people isolated from their family and friends'

Alya Ozmen from the anti-poverty charity Z2K said 'bold investment' was needed to tackle the current housing shortage. She said: “We regularly work with people who have been placed in out-of-borough temporary accommodation by Westminster City Council.

"This leaves people isolated from their family and friends, and struggling to access their workplaces, health services and children’s schools. We want to see Westminster improve the support available to people placed in out-of-borough accommodation so that any disruption to people’s lives is kept to an absolute minimum.

"We also need to see bold investment in new social housing from central government, to start properly addressing our housing crisis.” The LDRS understands Westminster City Council has just under 4,000 TA units and of the 369 households living in TA purchased by the council, 148 are out of the borough.

Other properties are leased from private owners either directly or through managing agents. The council said over 3,000 households applied as homeless in the last year with approaches, new placements and acceptances increasing more than 35 per cent in the last 12 months.

'The council has a duty to provide homeless households with accommodation'

It said £178.3 million had been earmarked to source 'good quality' accommodation to reduce reliance on the private rented sector and hotel rooms.

A Westminster City Council spokesperson said: “The council has been open about the significant strain on housing in the city.

"Building and acquiring more homes to reduce the need for out of borough placements is a priority. As with many other local authorities, Westminster Council is seeing a significant increase in approaches from individuals and households in housing need.

"The end of private rented tenancies and the inability to find alternative affordable accommodation, together with family breakdown and domestic violence are the most common reasons given by those seeking housing support. The council has a duty to provide homeless households with accommodation and consequently, demand for temporary accommodation continues to increase. It is our policy to prioritise those who have the greatest need to be in or close to a particular location.”

It comes as a separate FoI by the LDRS found Westminster City had spent an extra £34 million on TA during the 2023/24 financial year, bringing total spent to £95 million. This represented a 55 per cent jump from the previous year.

The council's share of spend as a percentage of its full budget has also jumped from 0.07 per cent in 2022/23 to 0.11 per cent this last financial year – the largest increase since 2014, records show.

If you have a story, contact Adrian Zorzut at adrian.zorzut@reachplc.com.

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