CROYDON IN CRISIS: As it struggles to find suitable accommodation for the borough’s homeless families, official figures show that the council has split up one family placed in temporary accommodation for 12 years.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Notorious: Croydon Council, under Conservative and Labour leadership, have continued to use B&Bs like Gilroy Court for temporary accommodation
Official council figures, obtained by Inside Croydon, show that more than 200 families being housed by Croydon Council have been split up in order to find placements for them.
In one instance, a family has been in Croydon Council temporary accommodation, but split up, since 2012.
Croydon’s Labour opposition has described it as “an entirely unacceptable situation”.
Council sources suggest that the figures provided by the housing department at Fisher’s Folly ought to come with some kind of cautious caveat over accuracy. One Katharine Street source suggested that for a family to have been in temporary accommodation and divided among separate rooms in a B&B or such like for 12 years is long enough to have seen any older children grow into adulthood by now.
All local authorities in England and Wales have a legal duty to provide emergency temporary accommodation. Under that housing legislation, people can remain in temporary accommodation for a maximum of six weeks before the local authority has a duty to find more permanent accommodation.
Croydon Council currently has around 3,500 families in temporary accommodation.
Converted: the Windsor House office block now provides nearly 200 temporary homes
This accommodation includes “hostel”-style apartments in places such as Concord House and Windsor House, the former office blocks on London Road, which were converted by the council to provide more temporary accommodation for the borough’s homeless.
The majority of Croydon’s homeless are provided with rooms in B&Bs and hotels, such as Gilroy Court in Thornton Heath, made notorious when featured on BBC Newsnight as long ago as October 2012. Croydon Council has continued to use Gilroy Court, and similar B&Bs, ever since.
In 2022, Inside Croydon reported how the Local Government Ombudsman had ordered a review of the council’s temporary accommodation practices after a mother, undergoing cancer treatment, and her off-spring had been housed in a hotel room for eight years.
Housing director: Susmita Sen
The policy of splitting families in order to provide their accommodation is only now coming to light, as the council under Tory Mayor Jason Perry has been congratulating itself for reducing its housing costs by £13.5million a year and halving its homelessness assessment waiting times by more than half under new(ish) director of housing Susmita Sen.
It is a briefing paper from Sen that lays bare the number of families the council is splitting up. From five or six in 2019 to 2021, the numbers have soared since 2022, with 74 families in temporary accommodation and split up in 2024.
Council officials already have monthly meetings with the housing department, where Croydon’s performance under the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003 – which is supposed to limit stays in temporary accommodation to six weeks or less.
There have been calls for a council policy to ban splitting up families in temporary accommodation. But in a briefing from Sen, seen by Inside Croydon, she said: “The Council faces high demand for accommodation, and this demand has risen in recent years.
Official figures: the chart from the council briefing document that shows 206 ‘split’ families in temporary accommodation, with one family housed in such a manner since 2012. Since 2022, the number has risen sharply
“A complete ban [on splitting up families] would hinder the council’s ability to meet its statutory obligation to provide accommodation when required. Notwithstanding that, we agree with the aspiration to end the splitting of households,” Sen wrote.
“Instead of a ban, the suggested wording by officers which can be included could be ‘in recognition of accommodation shortage and to comply with statutory homeless duty, in exceptional circumstances, the council may split households in two or more units of accommodation, taking into account any welfare concerns and for a reasonably short period of time’.”
At last week’s Town Hall council meeting, the matter was raised by Stuart King, the leader of the Labour group, who said there is clear need for urgent action.
In his speech, King said: “This very evening there are over 200 homeless families in Croydon who are forced to sleep apart, denied the right to live together as a single-family household, all under one single roof…
“… This means parents are separated from some of their children and their partner in what I would hope all of us in this chamber would find an entirely unacceptable situation.
“We have been told by officers that such decisions are not taken lightly and should be ‘rare and brief’…
“… And yet figures provided by the council show that in the past two years 185 families have been split… The case for action is clear. The case for action is urgent.”
Jason Perry has been Mayor of Croydon since 2022.
Read more: ‘My family’s hell on earth’: 18 months in a Croydon B&B
Read more: Croydon’s B&B nightmare: ‘an indictment of modern Britain’
Read more: Disabled resident’s harrowing plea: ‘I don’t want to be in here’
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
