Temporary accommodation by borough

At the beginning of 2017, there were 19,700 households in temporary accommodation located outside their home borough, more than one in three of total households placed in temporary accommodation. This is 1,800 more households than were placed outside their borough at the same point in 2016 (a 10% increase in one year). 

The patterns across London are uneven, with eight boroughs placing more than 1,000 households in temporary accommodation outside of the borough. Newham had the highest number at 1,700. Newham also had the highest number of households in temporary accommodation overall as they also did in 2016). In addition to the local housing market factors discussed above, there has also been a ‘knockon’ effect of Inner London boroughs placing their homeless families in temporary accommodation in Newham, which the council said in 2015 had been ‘reducing suitable properties available’ to them.* 

In eight boroughs, over half of placements into temporary accommodation were outside the borough. Kensington & Chelsea had the highest rate at 72%.

According to data from the Inter Borough Temporary Accommodation Agreement (ITBAA), most of these placements are in neighbouring boroughs. There is also evidence of a domino effect, where placements from more expensive Inner London boroughs have a knock-on effect on their less expensive neighbours (as with Newham).**

* Hakim, S. ‘Nearly 5,000 children in Newham are homeless’. Newham Recorder. 3 April 2015. 

** Shelter (2016) Home and away: The rise in homeless families moved away from their local area. London: Shelter.