Official figures suggest there were some 1,300 homeless households relocated from London to other places in England in the year to March 2025, up from 670 in the 12 months to March 2023.
Families with children have been sent to some of the cheapest parts of the country, including Bolton, Blackpool and Hartlepool, according to freedom of information requests reported by the Guardian.
Jonathan Brash, the Labour MP for Hartlepool, told the newspaper that London local authorities were “dumping a crisis on to northern communities”.
“It is undoubtedly the case that this kind of behaviour is increasing tension in towns like Hartlepool as local people face massive challenges with housing and other public services. It is ripping at the social fabric of the community I represent,” he added.
Charities warned that households were being moved to much cheaper rental homes that were often sparsely furnished and far away from family support networks in London and the south east.
A family last year won a £1,100 payout from Enfield council after they were moved to “the other end of the country” and left to live in “unsuitable accommodation” for three months.
An investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found the town hall was at fault for “disrupting” the lives of the mother and her two children as they fled domestic abuse.
One of the children was sitting their GCSEs at the time and the other had special education needs.
Enfield council had not liaised with the new local authority about school places for either child.
The housing crisis is particularly acute in the capital where sky high rents and a shortage of local authority properties are forcing town halls to seek alternative accommodation for homeless residents elsewhere.
London accounts for more than half of England’s homeless people and town halls have been warning that housing costs are pushing some to bankruptcy.
Read More
Boroughs are spending an extraordinary £5.5m a day to tackle homelessness – primarily on temporary accommodation for families.
The figures, up from £4.2 million a day in 2023/24, are an illustration of the dire state of the city’s housing market, with housebuilding having stagnated and hundreds of thousands of Londoners on council waiting lists.
The practice of moving people out of the city has been going on for a number of years.
In late 2024, Redbridge launched its “Home Truths” campaign after its short-term housing rocketed reaching over in excess of £52million.
The town hall sent letters to thousands of people living in temporary accommodation warning that they may be moved out of the capital to places such as Coventry and Scunthorpe because rents have become unsustainable.
Redbridge’s then council leader said that the crisis meant were simply are not enough affordable homes in the borough for locals.
“So people are continually finding themselves right on edge of being able to afford to pay rent.
“Councils are finding it increasingly difficult to actually build homes because the cost of building has gone through the roof. There has been an inflation crisis, cost living crisis and then every year councils lose more and more properties to right to buy.