17 February (Part 2) - Housing and the homeless
The People Scrutiny meeting
session on housing produced a couple of answers which may be informative.
Is refusing to go to Manchester interpreted as making oneself intentionally
homeless (rendering oneself beyond council help) asked Labour councillor Brenda Langstead.
The long answer by the Deputy Director and
TV star David Bryce-Smith
might be summarised as ‘it all depends but quite likely they
would be’. There are currently five Bexley families housed in Manchester and
another five declined the kind offer. It was confirmed that Manchester City Council is
advised of their presence.
Whilst several London councils find themselves in a similar decision to Bexley
and inner London councils have been sending their homeless to Bexley, where
accommodation is considered to be reasonably priced.