Moving families out of London 'not a new idea', says housing chief

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

The chief executive of Wirral Partnership Homes (WPH) says the idea behind London boroughs seeking to move families North is not a new idea, but warns that plucking people out of their homes and dropping them into new communities - if they don't have connections there - is not doing anyone any good.

It comes as a housing association in Stoke-on-Trent blocked the London Borough of Newham's request to re-house some 500 families in housing need. It's understood the Newham letter - and offer - was sent to nearly 2,000 housing associations and councils in the Midlands and into the North of the country.

Brian Simpson, chief executive of 14,400-home WPH, said around 10 years ago there was the Local Authorities Working in the North (LAWN) initaitve - which matched hard-to-let properties in the North with those desperate for housing in London.

It was kicked off by Camden council, who, desperate for homes to accommodate familes on its long waiting list, linked up with Kirklees council, which had hundreds of empty, hard-to-let houses. Camden council started showing prospective tenants videos of what homes were available in Huddersfield. The initiative worked and soon more signed up to the scheme.

Now, however, critics claim that, rather than solving a housing problem, the initiative was dispersing poverty from London and the home counties to deprived areas in the north and creating even greater poverty.

"That scheme it could be argued was a starting point for what we're seeing today," said Mr Simpson.

Simpson - who previously worked at the Audit Commission - says WPH was not, to his knowledge, one of the housing associations contacted by Newham.

He said: "For us, it comes down to communities. Placing people in new communities without any connections isn't really going to work. We're focused on our communities and their needs and being involved with them. Housing is more than bricks and mortar. I don't think our tenants would be keen if they had no affinity with the area. However, if people had family here, that maybe something we'd look at."