‘Isolated’ homeless mother forced out of local area by council after ‘no fault’ eviction
Care worker and mother of one, Queen Asuen Okigbo, was forced to move 23 miles away from her home area of southeast London to Kent after her landlord evicted her at short notice using a “no-fault” Section 21 eviction.
The 46-year-old is one of thousands of people who are increasingly being forced to move miles away from their hometowns (also known as an out-of-area placement) or risk forfeiting the right to council support after becoming homeless, as a recent i investigation revealed in August.
Ms Okigbo and her 11-year-old daughter were moved by their local council, the Royal London Borough of Greenwich, from Plumstead in east London to Chatham in Kent in December 2022 because they didn’t have anywhere they could house her in the borough.
Chatham is 23 miles, a £24 one-hour train journey or a £75 taxi away from the single parent’s support network, her job as a care worker, and her child’s school.
“We have to get up at five o’clock in the morning to make the journey to school,” Ms Okigbo told i over the phone. “It has meant I’ve had to stop working because I need to be able to drop her off and pick her up to do the journey.”
“I am also spending money on transport I didn’t have to spend before.”
Ms Okigbo said the temporary housing she and her daughter were given in Chatham meant that they had to share a bedroom.
“I keep writing to the council and telling them that our [temporary accommodation] is unsuitable, but they don’t want to listen to me,” she said, claiming the situation was making her feel increasingly desperate.
Ms Okigbo said she felt “isolated” and that the change to her circumstances was “too expensive” for her to manage.
“We are too far away from where we need to be,” she said. “I cannot change her school because we are in temporary accommodation, and I don’t know how long we’ll be here. I wish someone would help us.”
Having to move away from everything she knew had also made her daughter very “anxious” and “worried”, the 46-year-old said. “She started waking up at 4 in the morning because she wanted to get to school back in Greenwich and was worried that she would be moved away from her friends permanently.”
Ms Okigbo’s landlord used Section 21 to evict her because he wanted to sell his rented property.
Under current legislation, this is completely valid, and landlords can evict tenants with just two months’ notice at any time.
The Conservative Party is currently embroiled in a row over its 2019 manifesto pledge to ban Section 21 evictions, which are a leading cause of homelessness. The ban has been delayed by the Government being forced to make concessions about its implementation by providing assurances that repossession (eviction) courts will be reformed to help them cope with an expected surge in Section 8 evictions (another mechanism via which a landlord can ask renters to leave their home) once Section 21 is banned.
Data obtained by i via the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in August reveals the extent to which councils are using the practice of “out-of-area” placements, like the one experienced by Ms Okigbo, which the Government says should only be used as a “last resort”.
In the first quarter of 2023 alone, a total of 29,940 households were living in temporary accommodation outside of their local area. However, this figure may not account for people who were offered an “out-of-area” placement and declined it or those who were moved back to their home area quickly.
The average size of a household is 2.4 people, so i‘s FoI data indicate that up to 71,856 people may have been displaced in this way.
Section 21 evictions are rising and the number of families struggling in temporary accommodation in England has hit an all-time high. As a result, charities are urging the government to accelerate the ban on Section 21 and urgently build social housing.
A London Borough of Greenwich Council spokesperson told i that they would not comment on an individual case.
However, they did say that they were “experiencing more and more households approaching us as homeless after being given notice by private landlords” at a time when there is a “well documented London-wide crisis in the supply of suitable, affordable housing.”
“We have more than 27,000 households on our housing waiting list, and more than 1,800 households living in temporary accommodation,” they added. “Unfortunately, this means they cannot offer everyone who becomes homeless a home.
“We are working hard to do the best we possibly can our all residents in housing need.”
The practice of housing families who have been plunged into homelessness ‘out of area’ also puts a strain on the local authorities who take them in.
Medway Council, which is responsible for Chatham where Ms Okigbo was moved, said so far in 2023 over 500 homeless households had been sent to this part of Kent by local authorities in other parts of the country.
Councillor Naushabah Khan, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for housing and property, told i this was putting pressure on local services.
“Medway Council is facing significant pressures [of its own] with temporary accommodation and homelessness duties,” she said.
“Out-of-area placements, are placing additional burdens on already cash-strapped local authorities, and have had a considerable impact in Medway, as well as across Kent.
“Out-of-area placements reduce the number of homes on the market for local residents to access, drives up housing costs and places additional strain on local services including schools and healthcare providers,” she added.
A short while after i approached the London Borough of Greenwich for comment about Ms Okigbo’s situation, she was notified that she would be moved back to her home area.
“I felt so bad and really depressed when we didn’t know what was going to happen. It was so stressful,” she said.
“I’m feeling really happy and relieved to be back and back at work in my job,” she added. “My daughter is also excited to be back.”
Read i’s full investigation into “out of area” placements here.
