One London council's individual approach to encouraging tenants on its waiting lists to move north is proving popular with those who take the plunge
There are 52,000 people living in temporary accommodation at a cost of £128m a year in London. There are 360,000 properties lying empty in the North-west, North-east, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside. It doesn't take a genius to do the sums.

The lack of supply in the South combined with low demand in the North has led many southern councils to transfer homeless people outside London – often with less than successful results. Moving people in this way is a controversial idea and there is always the risk that those people who are moved may not settle into their new homes.

But Sutton council, on the southern outskirts of Greater London, is running a transfer scheme that works. Among the leafier of the London suburbs, Sutton is not an area one would expect to suffer from housing need. However, high property prices and private rents have made it increasingly difficult to find adequate housing. The council has struggled to find suitable homes for existing tenants at the same time as moving those in temporary accommodation out of bed and breakfast hotels and into permanent homes.

It is almost a year since Sutton, which owns about 9000 homes, launched a scheme asking if any tenants would like to relocate to bigger and better properties elsewhere in the country. Called Changing Places, the scheme involves Sutton working with councils and housing associations further north to match Sutton tenants to suitable properties that have been left empty in low-demand areas of north England, the Midlands and south-east Wales.

Changing Places coordinator Natasha Bobb explains: "Over the past few years the social housing sector in Sutton has seen increasing demand. This is mainly due to the ever-rising house prices on the open market, making it impossible for many first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder. In turn, private landlords have increased their rents in line with the property market, so renting is financially out of reach for many families."

The council has relocated 16 households to date, and is aiming to move another five over the next few months. With 1800 people waiting on its housing register and a further 1230 people waiting for larger and more suitable accommodation in Sutton alone, this may seem like a drop in the ocean but it can be the only hope for many people who are seeking more suitable homes. In fact, the scheme has been so popular the council held another open day in July.

No one could have envisaged the popularity of the scheme

Natasha Bobb, Sutton Council

Sutton council's relocation scheme is funded by its bed and breakfast budget. Tenants' travel and removal costs amount to around £58 per person and the council pays for two members of the same family to view the properties. Average removal costs stand at around £800 per household.

In addition, the council spent about £2700 launching the scheme. This went on leaflets, local newspaper adverts and posters advertising the open day at Merton. A further £3800 was spent on the open day itself that included production and postage of leaflets, posters, newspaper ads and food and refreshments.

Crucially, to ensure the scheme's success, the council arranged coach trips for families to visit their potential new homes and communities. One of these, which took 45 people to Burnley, in Lancashire, cost £900. In October the council will be taking a party to Wales.

Bobb is frank about the benefits as well as the problems of the scheme, acknowledging that although the pressure to find suitable accommodation in Sutton has eased, the workload generated as a result of the scheme is significant. "No one could have envisaged the popularity of the scheme and the pending workload it has created. I have been struggling to manage the day-to-day running of the scheme as well as my other duties as a home sales and registrations officer.

"Up to now we have used existing staffing resources. Fortunately we've just received funding from a bid to the bed and breakfast budget from central government to pay for one and a half posts to work here for a year, and this means I can have a temp helping with administrative duties."

Happy families

Melanie Salvidge, pictured above, traded in her flat on a crowded estate in Sutton to move to the open landscape of Staffordshire. The 26-year-old mother of two left Sutton after the council told her she might have to wait several years if she wanted a better property in London. If she was prepared to move north, it could find her a property almost immediately. The Salvidge family now lives in a three-bedroom house in Burton upon Trent. The children have their own rooms and more space. Salvidge says: “The house is lovely. There is a town centre and lots of hillside. There’s a canal as well and the neighbours are fantastic. Our old place was a two-bedroom flat; there was no garden and no space. I had lived there for six years and in the beginning it was very intimidating and was renowned for drugs, burglary and cars getting set alight.” She saw her new house a week and a half before she moved. The council paid for her trip to Burton upon Trent. “I wouldn’t come back down to London now,” she says. “The schooling is better here, there’s more one-to-one teaching and I have the opportunity to go to college as well.” Fiona Hunt, 27, and David Perrett, 38, also decided to move away from London. The couple and their two children moved from a two-bedroom ground-floor flat on Wandle Valley estate in Sutton to a four-bedroom house in Burnley, Staffordshire. “We had a two-bedroom house that wasn’t big enough and we shared a garden with other residents. Six years ago it was a brand new estate but since then has been vandalised, people have broken into the garden and you can’t let the children go out and play on their own because you worry they won’t be safe.” Initially the couple had put their names down on a housing transfer waiting list but they had been warned that they would be unlikely to get a four-bedroom property in the South until their son was 11 years old – a wait of five years. The Changing Places scheme was mentioned to them by the council and the couple decided that a move north was the only realistic option. Fiona says: “We’ve moved to a four-bedroom house with a big front garden. There’s everything you need and it’s a very beautiful area. You can see the Pennines in front. We were sold the moment we saw it.”

Getting London moving

Sutton has chosen to work alone in placing people in empty properties, but across London there is a network of councils which work together in order to help people move out of the capital and into more suitable accommodation. The pilot project, LAWN (London Authorities With the North), received £300,000 in funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Housing Corporation this year. The organisation seeks out available social lets in areas of low demand outside the capital and promotes the opportunity to move on a voluntary basis. Initially, the project simply involved a small number of London boroughs which liaised with other local authorities that had voids. But it has grown and runs across 33 boroughs with 70 social landlords signed to the scheme. Those who move can be homeless, in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation or on waiting or transfer lists. Last year London councils helped more than 350 households move out of London and into homes in the North, North-east, the Midlands and Scotland. LAWN hopes to double this and move 750 families by the end of August next year – with 600 of these moving by the end of May 2003. LAWN is working on a best practice guide. According to project head Kate Worley, the notion of best practice will mean having a common referral system and relevant support mechanisms. “The idea is that all boroughs will run their own schemes, but there will be common protocols between them,” she says. The protocols will cover things such as the quality of the property, the time it takes for a decision on a move to be made and making sure each family receives the same level of service.