London councils buy up 850 properties to relocate homeless people out of city

London councils and housing companies they own have spent more than £140m buying up homes to relocate homeless people out of the city.

- Sammy Gecsoyler

More than a dozen councils have collectively spent millions buying up more than 850 properties in towns and cities across the country since 2017, a Guardian analysis of property ownership data found.

The homes are owned directly by councils or by companies they partly or wholly own. They are used to house homeless individuals and families, either temporarily in emergency accommodation or permanently into privately rented homes.

Most of the homes are in deprived areas in the south-east and east of England that are already under huge pressures due to homelessness among their own residents.

But in the past year, London councils have looked farther afield, buying up a small number of properties in the Midlands and laying out plans to buy more in north-east England.

Waltham Forest and Bromley councils, via companies they jointly own with the housing and social care company Mears Group, have collectively spent almost £80m since 2017 buying more than 500 homes in areas including Harlow, Maidstone and Thurrock.

Both councils use these properties to discharge their homelessness duties and permanently rehouse people out of London.