Waltham Forest - sending our families to live in Luton

Knowing this, I was not surprised to read a BBC news article stating that some London councils are rehoming families outside of their borough. However, I was shocked to read that Waltham Forest council is sending our people to live in Luton!

Luton is 40 miles from east London. It’s nothing like Waltham Forest; no tube, of course, and the buses don’t run around the clock. Another measure of how far behind us they are is that only a minority of their buses are suitable for wheelchair users. Luton is nothing like the area that people would leave behind.

The only thing we’ve got in common is that both areas are run by a Labour council.

I worry for people with links here: those who would want to stay for ongoing NHS treatment, or perhaps because their children are preparing for GCSEs in local schools. What about those with family and friends nearby, and a support network that they would lose if forced to move from the area?

Perhaps some families prefer the standard of schools in Luton, and the option to have the size of house they require, rather than downgrading when the housing benefit changes come in. But isn’t it irresponsible for us to push our problems onto another area?

Housing is already a problem in Luton. This was identified as a “red flag” under the audit commission’s One Place assessment to June 2010 where they stated: “There are not enough good quality houses for people in Luton. This has been a long standing problem. The lack of available housing and overcrowding impacts on the lives of the people of Luton. This contributes to other problems such as poor health.

"Living in confined conditions can have a damaging effect on family life, including children's safety. People who need help also have to wait too long to receive their housing benefits. Although the number of homeless people has recently reduced it is still too high.”

Is it right that we send our residents to live in a location which already has a shortage of suitable properties? Should we be using the housing in Luton, or leaving it for those who already have roots in the area? Surely in this way we are aggravating an existing housing problem in another region, rather than solving our problems in house?

Marie Pye is Waltham Forest’s cabinet member for Housing and Development. She told me: “At the present time we have found 13 flats in Luton which we have offered to homeless families. They are really good condition, much cheaper than Waltham forest and have been very popular. There is a massive shortage of private rented accommodation for families in the borough.”

The reason for this shortage is that landlords in Waltham Forest commonly convert houses into multiple flats, meaning that there are fewer traditional family homes.

There is also the concern that, as benefit changes squeeze people’s finances, households from inner London will relocate to Waltham Forest, pushing its own inhabitants out to cheaper areas.

Marie added: “If somebody is homeless then the accommodation which we offer them must be suitable, when we look at suitability we consider location in terms of ensuring they have access to their employment, family/caring networks, education and so on. We want to keep our residents and families in Waltham Forest and will do everything that we can firstly to prevent people becoming homeless but if they do, then to ensure that we provide them with good quality suitable housing.”

That all sounds very worthy – that the council is doing all they can for its residents – but those 13 households may be the tip of the iceberg.

Ultimately, if you need a family home in Waltham Forest, you should prepare to be shipped out to Luton.

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