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£1.5 million houses for homeless
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter24.10.08
MILLIONS of pounds of taxpayers' money is being spent housing homeless people in some of the most expensive streets in London, the Evening Standard can reveal.
An investigation shows private landlords being routinely paid as much as £1,800 a week to house families in Kensington and Chelsea the most expensive borough in the country.
The Standard has uncovered one family living in a £1.5million, four-bedroom mews house in Kensington, under an initiative to keep down council waiting lists.
The house, owned by a cosmetic dentist, is being rented to a mother and her children at a cost of about £1,125 a week, or £58,500 a year.
It is not far from London's most expensive property, an £80 million house in Upper Phillimore Gardens which sold in February.
The Standard is aware of other homes one in a mews in South Kensington and another flat in a mansion block in Earl's Court which are also being rented out to people threatened with homelessness.
The total cost to the taxpayer to allow the homeless to live at London's smartest addresses is likely to be millions of pounds in housing benefit. The Department of Work and Pensions has admitted its concern that only the super-rich or those on housing benefit can afford to live in some inner London boroughs.
The tenant at the £1.5million mews house confirmed to the Evening Standard she had moved there at the beginning of the month under a scheme to prevent homelessness called LetStart, which is run by the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The woman refused to comment further.
Kensington and Chelsea has so far housed 430 families threatened with homelessness under the scheme in private, rented accommodation. LetStart also operates in several other west London boroughs.
The owner of the £1.5million mews house, George Druttman, who has a dental practice in the City, told the Standard: "It may well be [LetStart].
"But I don't think we particularly want to be in the news. Essentially I cannot give you any information.
"I don't know if it's LetStart or not. I just know Foxtons deal with it. It is rented and managed through [estate agents] Foxtons."
A Foxtons spokeswoman said today: "We can confirm we do manage that house. It is run under the LetStart scheme." She said the agents rented out several properties through the scheme.
The Government has been encouraging private landlords to take in the homeless since introducing the Local Housing Allowance in April. This lets landlords know the maximum a council can pay for any property even before opening negotiations.
In Kensington and Chelsea, a one-bedroom flat can be rented out for up to £365 a week; £540 for a two-bed flat; £795 for a three-bed; £1,125 for a four-bed and £1,887.50 for a five-bed flat.
This week James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, announced a review of the allowance following the revelation that Afghan immigrant Toorpakai Saindi and her children were placed in a seven-bedroom home in Acton at a cost of £2,875 a week because Ealing did not have a council house available. But the Standard investigation indicates that far from being a one-off there are many more examples of homeless families living at expensive addresses in the private sector.
Housing charity Shelter questioned whether making huge payments to private landlords to house the homeless was the best use of public money. Caroline Davey, deputy director of policy at Shelter, said: "We are hearing a lot about landlords who are inflating their prices to whatever the maximum local housing allowance is in the area.
"At its best you could see it as a dramatic response to not having enough social housing to go around but at its worst it is a way of taking people off the housing list and passing them into the private sector and that is an expensive way of get them off the books." Ms Davey said a government target to halve the number of people in temporary accommodation by 2010 had put pressure on supply. "We absolutely know demand across the board for private rented housing is going up ... I am sure both estate agents and landlords are making a killing out of it."
A spokesman for campaign group Taxpayers' Alliance said: "Local authorities and the Department for Work and Pensions are being careless with taxpayers' money. If you publish the maximum rent that landlords can charge they are much more likely to charge those amounts."
A DWP spokeswoman said the allowance was under review. She added: "It is not right that people on benefits should be able to live in houses which hard-working families could not afford to rent. We are determined that the system will be fair to low-income families, but also to the taxpayer."
A Kensington and Chelsea spokeswoman said: "The LetStart scheme was developed in 2005/06, and implemented in February 2006, as an option to households assessed as being in priority housing need. It operates as a homelessness prevention measure by offering assistance to those needing to access private rented properties as an alternative to being placed in temporary accommodation.
"The rent payment is the responsibility of the tenant. However, the reality is all of those assisted through the scheme will be recipients of housing benefit."
Reader views (30)
Wow, If you work and pay taxes, real taxes, those derived solely from the private sector. You should be ready to vomit on your presidents shoes. I think you call him a prime minister. I say give those “pushers” that got sacked a years wages for a promise to never work a public sector job again. They “the pushers” will then become part of the solution instead of the problem. That motherly touchy feely goo they call socialism never works, unless of course you want communism and a wrecked economy. We the countries with opportunity need to get back on path to what made us that way ingenuity, integrity, hard work and compassion. Without a government willing to mug us of our last dollar/pound. I HOPE we can CHANGE back to a path of doing the right thing.
- Uncleoki, California, USA
I Think that more refugies should get better housing amoung the rich/famous, oh & not forgetting our gracious MPS, living in our lovely country side,
- Ellen O'Brien, kilburn London
People who live in such properties could not afford to work with rents as high as &750pw so the gvt has got them by the short &curleys while estate agencies and , housing assosiations and landlords are making a mint. Now Kensington and Chelsea Cuncil are going to clean up the Royal Borough of the "pleb" by illegally evicting 600 families in permanent council homes on Wornington Green Estate (W10)and planning a "regeneration" in Latimer Rd to destroy any existing communities and properties to sell to the rich. Brilliant plan! Kill off the soul of Portobello and just leave empty shells for the coke snorting brats to move into!!!!And then give your children organic t-shirts to wear, that way you will definitelly reduce your carbon footprint.
- Liz K&C London, London W10
I think it's disgusting Nick James comment of leave the people including their children to remain homeless- would that not lead to more damaging situations i.e more crime and possibly violence for these families to get by.
also think of how damaging homlessness is for a child, their education is affected and also their relationship with their parent and trust in society to act decently to another human being, Punishing them for circumstances they could not prevent is not a way forward Nick!. Everyone especially children in Britain have the right to a roof over their head- it dramatically effects their welfare outcomes because of the stability it creates to the family.
I agree that the rents being paid are stupidly high anad these rents should be negotiated to a considerably lower amount. Like it has been pinted out the houses would remain empty anyway so the landlord would have to negotiate or they would simply miss an extra income altogether.
But this is all just Thatchers legacy and its the working classes that suffer once again. Maybe the Govt should stop thatchers right to buy schemes of social housing so more dwellings are owned by the state to let to the more disadvantaged.
- Emma Morgan, wakefield
These people including children should remain homeless,let them live on the streets,these houses should remain empty.
- Nick James, London
Wouldn't it be cheaper to house them in the Dorchester or Savoy hotels? The mind boggles at the stupidity of the people who perpetrated this piece of foolery.
- Len, Perth, Australia
This is a legacy of the Thatcher years - encouraging the sale of council properties - leaving very little stock left for those that need housing
- Andy, London
I agree with every single post here the broon maniac and his crew inc.the councils appear to have no controll as the eu overule all I do hope these will be a temporary measures HELEN UK post Has the right answer but she makes sence so that won't happen, for me I have only one choice because of location and I'll grab it to get rid of this loony broon interference from up here it's not for the reason some might think that being seperation more desperation in the same circumstances Im sure you all would do the same thing.
- Reality, Edinburgh Scotland
Ooh! Ooh! Me! ME! I'm homeless!! - or I could be given enough time to pack the kids' suitcases and hop on Easyjet from Geneva . . .
- Roz, Chamonix, France
Alas folks, you missed the giveaway line .... "The Department of Work and Pensions has admitted its concern that only the super-rich... can afford to live in some inner London boroughs".
So what business is it of their's? Mind you, by moving in the Housing benefit lot, that should bring prices down pronto. Pure Socialist envy and spite!
- Haskey, London SE1
Funny, I looked at a house similar to this in Chelsea and I deemed it slightly out of my price range. Alas, if I was on the dole and not working 65 hours a week the problem would be solved. Socialism is great isn't it. Bring everyone, everything, and every area down to the lowest common denominator because it is fair.
- Alex, London
Georgie - this has nothing to do with the current government. The councils caught up in this - Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth, Ealing - are all run by the Conservatives.
If the government is bankrupt now, imagine what it would be like under the Tories, if they were to extend their local government habits to national government!
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
Standard Labour and civil servants tactics. Misuse the private sector to discredit the whole scheme. This example and Ealing are a scandal. One of many. Ealing are paying £170,000 a year to house Afghans, while an ex Army corporal lives in his car outside. That rent is double the market rent for the house. Why? Because of labour housing rules. Next call to nationalise all council housing programmes.
Still nothing compared to the huge state debts Brown is leaving the taxpayer, especially on pensions. A £1 trillion capital fund would be needed to pay state pensions. The pensions will be paid out of taxes. Government not bothering to save now. Labour is spend now to get votes. Brown takes (steals) £5 billions a year from private pensions of people who saved up, so he can fund his vote buying schemes including the state sector pensions. These are now far better then private sector pensions.
Brown has twisted the system so far to encourage people not to save and not to earn. He wants people dependant on Him for home, (one parent - more tax if two) schooling, university, housing, jobs and pension. Brown already pays half of all incomes in Scotland. Among many benefits Scots (£2,000 extra state funds per head) get free university and keep their homes if in care. English students must pay to go to Scottish Universities, even though other EU students do not pay if they go to Scottish Universities. Scottish bias is a scandal. Sack Brown now.
- Gordon, kirkaldy
When I bought my first tiny flat - about 20' x 22' OVERALL - I worked two jobs to pay the mortgage, and there was no mention of holiday for the first 3 years. Seriously, I wonder why I bothered.
- Marianne, S W France
All of those who pay their own council tax in full should withhold payment.
There is no way that everyone could be taken to court and, if the council is receiving no money, it can't waste it on spongers.
Make it known to your local councillor that, when the next local election comes around, you're not going to vote on party lines, but for anyone except the current incumbent. That will concentrate their minds.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster
I agree with Casper. There seems to be no point in working for a living. This is the message being sent to people growing up these days. I have a tenant who owes me over £5000. It has taken me months to get her out of the property and I've been told I'm unlikely to get the arrears paid and I probably won't be able to enforce any order because she doesn't earn enough! She seems to be earning enough to buy laptops, computers, guitars, playstations etc. Housing benefit make a contribution to her rent and now she will probably get a bigger contribution or free housing if she says she has nowhere to live. It makes me so angry. I would never rent out to housing benefit tenants again.
- Naomi, London
Blame Thatcher and her ilk for selling off our social housing stock. Now houses are investments first and homes second. It's hard enough for even hardworking families to afford a decent home in London, imagine how you'd feel with children and no income. Its a crying shame the only available places left to the council for homeless families are overpriced private rentals.
- Toby, London
Unfortunately this situation is the same when you get to the end of your life. If you have a property and need to go into a nursing home, the state requires that you sell the property, even if your spouse still lives in it. It is only when your life's savings are exhausted will the state then contribute to your care. Of course if you have no property or other assets they will stump up the cash from the start.
- Adam, Harrow, UK
The money being WASTED on rent could be spent BUILDING homes. Such action would also release money in to the community by creating new jobs.
- Helen, UK
Spread the misery around is what I say - why should only the cheaper boroughs be knee-deep in somali immigrants ? When the parliamentarians have their streets awash perhaps they'll sit up and take notice and do something about immigration.
- Squiz, Islington
Is this part of the same "fairer Britain" Brown was rattling on about recently?
Only in this bloody country do a large proportion of the unemployed get, subsidised or free housing, with washing machines and all mod cons.
This country needs an enema badly.
- P I Staker, London
stories like this no longer suprise me. i am beginning to doubt whether working to pay higher rate tax, rent etc is the really the best use of my time on earth as others seem to benefit more from the labours of the minority who work and take relatively little out of the system
- Aesir, London
Are we a nation of haves and have-nots? Or a nation of workers and spongers?
- Sam, London, UK
OK Kensington is not so nice anymore as it was before but this is just throwing tax money away - no wonder we have a bankrupt government.
- Georgie, Kensington, London
What is the point of working for a living in the UK. The average Britain would be better off to start pumping out babies at the age of sixteen safe in the knowledge that the taxpayer will pick up the bills and ensure that they live in the finest accomodation for the rest of their lives.
If I ever come back to the UK I will be straight down to the dole office to declare myself homeless.
- Casper Slides, West France
Its not only this council. Wandsworth has housed a family of 3 the mother and her teenage two children in a luxury home complete with swimming pool, with a monthly rent of approximatley £4000. They get benefits on top. No wonder she is able to drive a Mercedes Benz!
- Jonathan, London, UK
Just doesn't make sense when you think of pensioners getting less that £100 per week after working all their lives
- Linda, italy
You couldn't make it up - even in the socialist mad state of Britain.
- Frederick, London, UK
it is difficult to imagine a bigger waste of public money.
- Hilary, London SW5
It certainly seems to be the in thing to be potless.
And doesn't Labour love it.
- Steve, London
