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Boris wants to move older council tenants out of city to make way for families
Katharine Barney30 Sep 2009
Hundreds of council tenants could be moved out of London to free up family-sized homes in the city centre.
Single people in homes with more than one bedroom will be "encouraged" to relocate to smaller houses as far away as the Midlands.
The move is part of a £10million plan by Boris Johnson to beat a housing crisis that is forcing large families to live in "shoe-box" flats.
He is targeting people aged over 55 and claims they will be offered £100,000 properties in the country or by the sea. Initially about 100 people could be moved.
The Mayor has promised to provide 50,000 affordable homes by 2011 through a combination of new builds, renovation and this scheme.
Today, his housing adviser, Rick Blakeway, said there was "an acute need" for homes in London caused by years of councils' budget mismanagement, a lack of new family homes and an ageing population.
A recent report by the Local Government Information Unit commissioned by Westminster council found there are 50,000 overcrowded homes in London, with many families sleeping more than two to a room.
Overcrowding has been linked to health problems, stress, family breakdown and educational underachievement. But Mr Johnson's move has provoked a furious backlash as it emerged that people may be asked to move away from their families and communities.
A spokeswoman for charity Age Concern said: "Often a familiar home is a very cherished place for an elderly person, especially if they had a lot of happy memories. We know that elderly people are often very reluctant to leave, especially if they have a strong support network in the area. And often people suffer physically from the stress and can even die."
Mr Blakeway said: "The idea is to acquire attractive homes outside the capital in desirable places. Sometimes a family might move into a property and they can have that house for several years while children grow up and fly the nest.
"Meanwhile, you've got families living in just a couple of rooms. We hope people with families outside London might be keen to apply as well as those that might want a more relaxing pace of life." Larger homes for social rent are in very short supply in London. In Croydon even the highest priority households will wait an average of three years for a three-bedroom home, while in Newham the average wait is 10 years.
The London Seaside and Country Homes Scheme was first suggested by members of the former Greater London Council in 1970 although only those over 60 could apply. It has since been suggested by Labour, with former housing minister Yvette Cooper calling for the scheme to be introduced in major cities two years ago.
The cash for the Mayor's programme was agreed by the Home and Communities Agency, chaired by Mr Johnson, on Monday.
Mr Blakeway said a new scheme to allow families to purchase "cut-price" homes if their income fell beneath £74,000, rather than the current level of £60,000, would also reassure developers there were more people in the market for larger properties.
The move comes as it emerged some cash-strapped councils are selling off properties cheaply at auction to fund repairs to the rest of the housing stock.Earlier this month it was revealed that Lambeth is auctioning houses to developers who can then make tens of thousands of pounds' profit.
The council, which is facing a fraud investigation into a £22million overspend of housing budgets, sold a property for £128,000 in February. Six months later it has gone on the market for £215,000, making the seller a potential profit of £87,000.
I don't want to leave ... not for any money'
Irene Taylor has lived in her three-bedroom home on a council estate in Westminster since 1977 and said she would not move even if she was offered a cottage by the sea. The 83-year-old brought up her three children in the property and says she cannot imagine living anywhere else.
“I'm part of the furniture,” she said. “I don't want to move, not for any money or any property. I was one of the first people in to these houses and I couldn't go now. I'm perfectly happy. I've been through a lot here and I've got my daughter around the corner who comes and looks after me.
“I need my family around me and all that's familiar. The space also means people can come and stay — I wouldn't have that in a one-bed, however pretty the location. No, I don't ever want to move.”
Reader views (25)
I live in a council flat in Hampstead London NW3 and I would be delighted to move out of London but Camden do not want me to leave it would appear as they have made it so difficult for me to apply to get out.
- Anita Brooks, London NW3, 07/07/2011 13:51
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Cannot agree more with all previous comments by P Staker.
Allocation of a council property should absolutely be means tested on a regular basis.
If you have a joint income over say £40K and no dependents you should really be looking to buy or rent privately.
I know a good friend who has a council property in London that he uses about 5 days a month and the rest of the time he lives in a 4 bed property he owns outright on the coast.
There will be many others like him too, I'm sure.
Let's be sensible - if you are not old and vulnerable and you ARE now well off, you should not be in council accommodation.
Low cost accommodation should be a safety net when you need it. Once you don't need it anymore, you should move on and make the space available for someone who really needs it.
- David L, London, 07/04/2010 13:56
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Why pick on social housing tenants? Or the elderly. They live and work in London as best they can with the disadvantages of the fact they usually cannot move easily to a place of their choice. Most of them would buy property on the open market in London if they could afford to live in London in competition with their wealthier neighbours. However they stay because they have made a contribution and their families are on hand- Providing social cohesion instead of fragmentation which can only be positive for London.
Why not suggest converting the big houses of Kensington into flats for families and paying the owners to leave because they cannot possibly be using all of their space efficiently?
The whole policy is essentially unprincipled and I am surprised at this open discrimination against the elderly who would never dream of leaving their homes. It must be frightening being an elderly tenant at the mercy of big ideas from Boris.
London can build olympic stadia but not homes for its people- interesting.
- Carolyn, Kensington, 30/10/2009 13:46
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i am trying realy hard to move out of a large 6 bed house in clapham junction.my 4 children have all left home and i live here by myself.i have asked wandsworth council to help and that was a joke.there incentive was 5000,while westminster council is 3000 per room and 2000 to help move.i am now registered with seaside and countrywide houseing,which i did by myself.i have just been contacted by the GLA and asked about the 100000 scheme.i am looking into this but my council as far as i can see just dont care.i have lived her 26yrs,and i will be sad to leave but the council will have to come up with a better incentive than they are now.i cannot see what this new department does as they have given me no help whatsoever.i also wonder will they sell this house if i do leave,or will it be used for a large family.?i would love to know if anybody else in wandsworth is haveing the same problem.
- Jan, clapham junction. london, 30/10/2009 13:35
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Boris should stop coming up with these wild ideas. He is just passing his housing problems to other councils. Has he consulted the other councils about his proposals ?
A better way would be to sent these people with big family to live in the countryside with plenty space and fresh air.
The way Boris is carrying on , he is sure of getting throw out of the mayor's job in the next round, and is causing problems for Tories in the next election.
- Jo, london uk, 30/10/2009 12:47
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What has happened to Boris? I'm wishing Ken was back.
It's inevitable as children move on and husbands and wives get older and die you will have houses under occupied. But these are their family homes and they deserve to be allowed to stay in them. This country stinks.
- Julian, London, 30/10/2009 10:30
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I don't suppose the elderly will be forced out of their homes. They should however be encouraged and given incentives to move to a smaller property. Larger 3 bedroom homes are in a great demand and I have personal experience of this. I met so many people in social housing when I was trying to move to a bigger place and so many of them did not deserve the home they had. I am part Asian but I was born in the UK and it is sad that I feel this way about migrants as my grandparents were once in their situaution too. I have seen around 25 homes mostly occupied by Arabs or Pakistanis that are kept in such a terrible condition, I am certain there is a lot of sub letting going on. I have also encountered Morroccan occupants who have 'second' homes in Tangiers or such glamourous places. It really doesn't seem fair.
- Fc, London, 15/10/2009 17:17
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This is what Thatcher meant when she won her 3rd victory and said "we must get into inner cities too." In some places it is better referred to as ethnic clensing!( and has nothing to do with race more to do with voting intention!)
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 01/10/2009 12:23
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My independent aunt had a marvellous solution to living in her own home in her later years. She signed up to a private company where she rented a room out in her home. Their services matched young female students and trainee nurses from the UK and abroad to elderly women living on their own. Each had their privacy and independence, but the elderly person wasn't alone. Thorough checks were done on both sides and the girls and their families were thoroughly vetted as suitable. They paid a small rent and in return did some light housework/shopping.
A similar scheme could be made to work for London's elderly council house tenants who want to remain in their own areas. Key workers could rent rooms in the homes, their places of employment guaranteeing good behaviour and honesty. The elderly are fundamental to Britain's make up in society. They have a place and a right to be in London as much as any newer arrivals.
- Jennifer, Reading, 01/10/2009 11:15
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I know how to free up the London housing market. Send everyone who does not come from this country back to where they came from, we would then have so much more room for the true population of the country. As another reader says, why do they keep having kids. Make it a proviso that if they get a Council property they are also sterilised. Takes me back to the old days when I think it was in India if you were sterilised you got a radio. Something to think about perhaps.
- Anon, England, 01/10/2009 09:52
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I have a 94 year old aunt who lives in a two bedroomed flat. No way will she want to be moved out of London. Even if you were of a lesser age, what kind of transport would you have out in the country. One bus per hour, if you're lucky. I don't think this idea has been thought out. Sounds good but in practice I cannot see any older person living on their own opting to be even more lonely out in the country or the supposed paradise of a seaside cottage. This idyllic picture does not exist in reality.
- Paula Newman, London, England, 01/10/2009 09:07
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Instead of moving people about like deck chairs to other parts of the country, which is overcrowded everywhere, why not buy some island or coastal area somewhere warm, like the Mediterranean, and offer homes there. I am sure older folks won't need much in the way of encouragement then.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 01/10/2009 08:51
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I recall a case of housing staff being bemused by a tenant who parked a brightly coloured Rolls Royce on a Council estate. Nothing very odd about that, he was a chauffeur and the car was his employer's!
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. UK, 30/09/2009 23:22
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It's a nice concept isn't it 'retiring to the country/coast' however what needs to considered is the strain on providing care to older people in rural areas. Carers travel miles from village to village providing assistance to old people such as washing and dressing. Sending older people to the country will put a further burden on what is an already very stretched and inadequate rural health and social care service.
- Wendy Smith, Forest Gate London, 30/09/2009 22:38
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I can understand what Boris is saying and in theory agree with him. My mother in law lives in a three bedroom council house. She is unable to get up the stairs and the council have put in a stair lift for her (free of charge) and also have taken the bath out and made the bathroom into a wet room so she can bath. I applaud the council for helping her but would it not have been more sensible to move her into a flat which she can get around in with no problem and allowed her three bedroom house to be given to a younger family who desperately need the space. I appreciate that she has lived there for a long time but if she was moved to a place close to the house she lives now then what is the problem. She would be happier with a house she can clean and look after without having her family come to clean it for her.
She is not the only person I know in her situation. I also have an interest in this as my daughter has 3 children and cannot get a house large enough for the family because there are no larger properties available to rent.
I am not against the elderley in any shape or form just sometimes I think it would be sensible.
- Jan, London, 30/09/2009 21:35
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This is just a taste of what's to come unless the goverment (who ever that may be in the future) starts to tackle the very real and serious problem of the UK's population explosion.
- S. London, London, 30/09/2009 17:17
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It seems like we keep our elderly and older people tucked away and hidden. Much like we did the disabled in the bad old days. A society is non functioning and non representitive of its components if it segregates living by age. Surely in other spheres, we see the abysmal failure of divided and separated communities?
- Mark, London, 30/09/2009 17:09
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'More pleasant' is mostly for those who can afford to pay for the quiet and pleasant places. Having lived in both town and country, I can assure you that there are vast housing estates on the edges of most rural British towns in country areas. (Exeter, Bristol, Oxford's Blackbird Ley's, etc). Crime, noise, anti-social behaviour and drug problems especially, proliferate. Employment in these areas brings its own despair. Docked on to some of these estates are purpose built dwelling units for the elderly. Not only can living be expensive with shops so far away, getting around is limited too as bus services are few and far between. Many problems exist for the non-driving elderly living on the outskirts of towns and cities, not least loneliness and isolation.
- Pamela, Clapham, London, 30/09/2009 16:11
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So the ethnic-cleansing of home-grown residents out of affordable areas of London will continues apace even with a change of Government? Fact - immigrants tend to have larger families so people like Mrs Taylor will be uprooted from friends, family and everything familiar to accommodate their needs. The home-grown population of the East End and many other areas have shrunk to negligible proportions and now those remaining will be targeted. Is this official Conservative policy?
- Ab, London, 30/09/2009 15:53
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Apart from being separated from their social networks, elderly people moved to the "country" or "sea" would find themselves further isolated due to poor public transport links, meaning their access to doctors, dentists, shops, post offices, libraries etc is severely restricted.
- Helen, West London, 30/09/2009 14:11
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Well reading between the lines as no one is going to say it, it will be the aged white people being farmed out somewhere to die whilst the mass uncontrolled immigration continues into the cities.
- Grim Reaper, Hell, 30/09/2009 14:07
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Here's 3 simpler ways to free up housing.
1) Means test every 5 years, I see a quite few social housing flats with new mrecs and bmw's always outside them, sorry but if you can afford to run a car, and a nice one at that, go and rent privately like the majority of people do.
There are also many tennant who can well afford to rent privatley, but who don't. And I mean the likes of Lee Jasper, and Lady Uddin with a place in Wapping BOTH in social housing, whats that all about?
2) Stop allowing the newly arrived housing, why should they jump an already very long queue?
3) Contraception, why do people keep producing kids, and then expect a bigger flat or house?
- P Staker, Londonistan., 30/09/2009 13:29
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Paying rent does not confer the right to reside permamently, that is only gained through purchasing your property. I totally understand that people do not want to move away from the area where they have lived for years, but then they and their families have the option to buy.
- Mark, London, 30/09/2009 13:21
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I don't think Boris is suggesting sending armed stormtroopers round to herd people out of London! But there must be lots of elderly people who would be happy to move away from the noise, dirt and crime* of central London to somewhere a bit more pleasant.
*Not my view, but it does seem to be the view of a lot of people who contribute to these discussions!
- John R., London SW, 30/09/2009 12:36
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Moving older people from homes they have lived in for decades is as bad as suggesting repatriation of settled migrants to make more room for indigenous people.
Both 'solutions' involve removing people from their roots and dumping them in places where they are strangers. Both these ideas are inhumane and devalue human life.
- P B, London, 30/09/2009 12:06
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