Your report on the discussion at Sutton Council’s Housing, Economy and Business Committee of the council’s efforts to prevent homelessness did not, perhaps, do justice to the range of opinions expressed or make fully clear what Sutton Council’s policy is.

If someone is threatened with eviction and homelessness, and a landlord has started legal proceedings to achieve this, the council’s support team do all they can to find them alternative accommodation in the private sector that they can afford. Usually they are successful. If not, the council is obliged to find them accommodation, which usually means putting them in bed and breakfast accommodation.

This is usually many miles away from Sutton and is an unpleasant experience that can lead to major family and work problems. The council will do that at the end of the process or when it becomes clear, at a late stage, that there is no realistic chance of finding them other accommodation.

It can be a terrifying situation for a family to face homelessness and be put in bed and breakfast, perhaps due to redundancy and thus no fault of their own.

If they are pressured into leaving the accommodation before the end of the process this reduces the time available to the council to find them alternative accommodation.

While it is doubtless convenient for landlords if they move out quickly, it is in the best interests of the families involved if they can avoid homelessness altogether by finding other accommodation.

This is also in the best interests of council taxpayers, who ultimately pick up the bill for the action required of the council when people become homeless.

The committee was told other accommodation is often found quite late in the process, so it is right for the council to declare someone homeless only when alternatives have been exhausted or are not going to be available.

COUNCILLOR RICHARD CLIFTON
Sutton Council's vice-chairman housing, economy and business committee

 

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