Alan Fraser
The practice of ‘exporting’ homeless people to other parts of the country isn’t helping anyone
No good solution
It is not acceptable for homeless people to be ‘exported’ across the country with no proper provision being made for them in the places to which they are being sent. Without greater communication we may see further cases like woman who, at eight months’ pregnant, ended up in hospital due to stress after being sent by Newham Council to Birmingham, where support services say they have not received information about homeless families arriving.
Birmingham already has high levels of homelessness. In 2011, the city had the highest number of homeless applications of any local authority in the country. For London boroughs to be sending people from the capital - presumably due to the cheaper cost of housing - has a knock-on effect on people in Birmingham who are already on social housing waiting lists. There are already 1,100 households in temporary accommodation in Birmingham, and homeless providers are working flat out with the council to try to house them permanently.
London boroughs should be more upfront about their use of private rented accommodation elsewhere so other local authorities are aware what is happening and local providers can prepare for it. To now be faced with the challenge of other households being exported into our homeless system risks putting further strain on services that are already being cut due to lack of funding.
Here at Birmingham YMCA, we are committed to helping people break the homelessness cycle to ensure they can be integrated back into society. Sending homeless people across the country decreases their chance of rehabilitation as they are likely to be displaced from existing support networks. We urge this practice to be stopped and encourage more open communication between cities to enable us to tackle homelessness.
Alan Fraser is chief executive of Birmingham YMCA
