London councils are ‘exiling’ their poor to the north of England. (Image: Getty)
Council chiefs have been warned they may be breaking the law by sending thousands of people on housing waiting lists in London to the North and the Midlands.
Authorities have been accused of “exiling” poor families to areas where home costs are cheaper.
Up to one in 10 residents in Ferryhill, Co Durham, are believed to be refugees from the capital, with “whole streets” in other towns in the region being filled with Londoners desperate for a home.
Chris Bailey, campaign manager for charity Action on Empty Homes, said: “It is as if the towns of Co Durham and Teesside are being turned into the equivalent of London’s modern day leper colonies.”
He added families were “sent into exile up there, through no fault of their own”.
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Councils in the capital moved 15,280 households to other areas in just one year, Freedom of Information requests by Nottingham University found.
Many were moved to neighbouring boroughs but others were sent hundreds of miles away.
Areas receiving homeless families each year also include Walsall, Sheffield and Liverpool.
Section 208 of the Housing Act requires councils that move households to inform the local authority the family is being sent to, but MPs in the North have accused boroughs in the capital of failing to do this.
Grahame Morris, MP for Easington, in Co Durham, is to lead a Commons debate highlighting the issue.
Deputy Prime Minister has also written to every council chief executive in England to remind them they are required by law to notify the receiving local authority of any out-of-area placement.
Research has been led by Dr Steve Iafrati, assistant professor in social policy at Nottingham, who said families are expected to start a new life away from friends and family, with children forced to change school.
Any that refuse can be classed as “voluntarily homeless” and lose the right to help.
Meanwhile, the areas receiving London’s homeless face extra demand for school and healthcare services.
Dr Iafrati said: “People who are moved have got children or they are pregnant, they may have a mental or physical disability.
“I have spoken to households who then could not get a school for their child in the area they were moved to.
“I have spoken to people who have lost their job.
“The biggest group moved are women with children and that adds to demand for school places.”