Councils unaware of homeless placements
- 15 Nov
Many homeless families being moved out of London could be missing support as councils are unaware of their placements.
In the past twelve months to June 789 households were housed in 69 local authority areas and despite legislation stating that recipient local authorities must be informed of any placements, it has been revealed by Inside Housing reveals councils are not always being told.
Dartford received 205 placements between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013 however has no knowledge of any homeless families housed in its area by other authorities. Slough received 94 homeless households over the same period however only received two notifications of placements.
Richard Davies, lead councillor for housing at Reading Council, which was not informed of the 40 households placed in its area in the 2012/13 financial year, said: "If there was a decent protocol of giving the receiving authority information about what their [household's] situation is and what council services they're likely to need, I think that would be really helpful. It would be much better for them and for our planning purposes so we can anticipate the demand a bit better."
The 1996 Housing Act states: ‘If [local authorities] secure that accommodation is available for the occupation of the applicant outside their district, they shall give notice to the local housing authority in whose district the accommodation is situated.'
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Image source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1237610
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