Families moved miles away

WEST London families have had to move over 200 miles away to Manchester as there are not enough houses in their borough. Residents in need of a home were also sent to live in temporary accommodation in Birmingham by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

As many as 23 families may have been housed outside of London in locations such as Slough in Berkshire, Sandwell in the West Midlands and Spelthorne in Surrey, according to the council’s latest data on October 10.

As many as four families have been housed in Manchester - a four-hour drive from the borough – while other families have been put up 120 miles away in Birmingham, council statistics show.

The figures were obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service through a Freedom of Information request to Hammersmith and Fulham Council. In total, 683 households had to be placed outside the borough. More than 650 families were put in homes around London.

The number could be higher, as the council refused to provide exact figures where the number of families housed in a council area was less than five.

There are 120 families living in Brent while they wait for accommodation, 210 families are waiting in Ealing and 74 families are waiting in Hounslow. A further 46 families have been placed in Enfield.

The number of households placed outside the borough is on the rise. Since March 2021, fifty families have had to be moved outside of the borough.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council Council is looking to build 3,000 affordable homes in the next four years to tackle the local housing crisis. In total, the council wants to build 10,000 homes, half of which will be affordable.

The borough is also set to be transformed by the new HS2 and Crossrail station at Old Oak Common. A further 22,000 private homes are expected to be built close to the station development.