Most homeless people in Havering are put into local accommodation, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

Local housing authorities have a statutory duty to provide assistance to households who register as homeless within their area.

Of 1,076 households given temporary accommodation by Havering Council at the start of this year, only one in 16 were housed outside the borough, with 39 in Thurrock, nine in Basildon and nine in Barking and Dagenham.

Havering Council has placed 572 households in privately-rented homes, 82 in hostels, and 362 in short-life housing - which are homes that are awaiting redevelopment.

A key cause of homelessness in Havering is the cost of housing, according to the council's homelessness strategy.

Before the pandemic, rents in the private sector were 20 per cent higher than local housing allowance (LHA), which is set by the government.

In 2020, LHA was brought up to a level that matched Havering’s average house prices. However, this increased pressure as other local authorities saw the area as an attractive place to house homeless people from their boroughs.

The borough also suffers from a shortage of housing, with only a six per cent growth in homes between 2010 and 2020.

In a bid to reduce the financial impact of homelessness while still supporting those in need, Havering has agreed to lend its own property company Mercury Land Holdings (MLH) up to £59million to become a temporary accommodation landlord.

It will use the sum to buy 750 homes over the next five years.

Cllr Joshua Chapman, cabinet member for housing, said it was “vital” to ensure those in need of temporary accommodation had a “safe, suitable roof over their head, as close to their own environments as possible”.

He added: “In the long term, we are developing a new family assessment centre to replace our existing hostels, expanding our buy-back programme of former council homes, and delivering one of London’s biggest regeneration programmes through a joint venture partnership to provide much-needed social housing for local people in need.”

Keith Darvill, leader of Havering Council’s Labour group, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that short-life homes can be in an “absolutely deplorable” condition.

“What’s happening is they could be doing well in terms of accommodation in the borough, to keep them off the streets, but if the properties are very poor you have a series of other problems,” he said.