North London family with tiny baby facing eviction threat come within hours of being left homeless

A North London family with a three month old baby came within hours of being left homeless after facing eviction from their private rented home. The council eventually stepped in to provide the family with emergency accommodation, with its leader describing the situation as a ‘tragic reality’ of the housing crisis engulfing the country.

Local housing campaign group Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL), part of the London Coalition Against Poverty, raised concerns about the family’s plight on social media. They were eventually found temporary accommodation by Brent Council on the same day they were scheduled to be evicted by bailiffs (November 12).

Officers had been working with the family over the past six months to help find them secure private rented accommodation prior to the eviction date, according to the council. However, this was ultimately not possible, a reality which Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Muhammed Butt, blamed on the ‘unprecedented’ demand for housing stock outstripping the supply.

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Cllr Butt told MyLondon: “Sadly, [the family’s] situation is the tragic reality of the housing emergency that is gripping our country. The UK’s housing emergency – which is particularly acute in London boroughs, including Brent – has been a long time in the making with the consequences of the disastrous decision to sell off council homes under the Right to Buy, still felt today.”

He added: “Even though Brent has been leading the way in building new homes, with the second highest number of new builds completed out of all the London boroughs over the past 10 years, our supply cannot cope with this unprecedented increase of demand.”

Local councils have a duty to provide rehousing assistance to eligible families facing homelessness, with children having specific rights under the Children Act 1989 to ensure their welfare and accommodation needs are considered.

There are currently more than 1,000 families in Brent living in temporary accommodation who are also looking for private rented homes in the borough. Cllr Butt claims the problem is that many families in a housing emergency are ‘unable to afford the sky high rents’ in London.

There has been a 41 per cent decline in private rental listings since 2017 combined with a 50 per cent decline in four bed properties, according to the council. At the same time, there has been a rapid rise in the number of people experiencing homelessness. Brent has the second highest number of new builds completed out of all the London boroughs over the past ten years. However, the supply cannot cope with this surge in demand.

The average wait time for a two-bed home is currently more than a decade, whilst for four-bed properties the wait is over 20 years. There are currently 33,000 households on the council’s social housing waiting list - almost nearly 1 in 10 of all Brent residents - with some families having been waiting since the last century.

The council believes the solution to homelessness is to find an affordable home in the private rented sector - even if that is most likely to be outside of Brent.

Cllr Butt said: “It breaks my heart to say it but the solution to homelessness is to find a place you can afford in the private rented sector. It is likely that most affordable places are outside London. We have secured [this family] temporary accommodation today, and we will continue to work with [them] to help them find a home they can afford somewhere.”

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