Blog:Councils Block-Booking Bed and Breakfasts? Possibly not... 
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This state of affairs has been widely reported across the media in recent days, and was even used as part of Labour leader Ed Miliband’s PMQ’s ammunition.
But barely an hour later Communities Secretary Eric Pickles was dismissing the story as ‘an urban myth’, in a BBC interview. So how did the story come about?
Reports emerged at the end of last week of the stark warning issued to the Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee by Nigel Minto, Head of Sustainable Housing for London Councils, a body aimed at promoting the interests of the metropolitan boroughs.
According to the social housing magazine Inside Housing, Mr Minto told the Committee:
“‘Some central London boroughs have been doing block-bookings in outer London because they know that they will not have the accommodation in the private sector.’
So is this really just an urban myth? It appears to be the case.
Full Fact spoke to London Councils who provided us with a statement seemingly rowing back from Mr Minto’s comments.
“London Councils has warned that up to 82,000 households could become homeless in the capital as a result of the government’s changes to housing benefit next year. Boroughs are now talking to private landlords outside of the capital about procuring private properties in case they need to use them as temporary accommodation.
It was suggested to us that there had been an element of “misreporting” of the story with press keen to seize on the striking picture painted by Mr Minto’s remarks.
Not having been at the Select Committee session, it is not for us to judge if Mr Minto’s words have been taken out of context or not – even if they do on the face of it appear self-explanatory.
However the whole fiasco suggests that Ed Miliband and others may need to avoid referring to these block-booking in future political jousts.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Oct 27 2010, Article By Patrick
Are councils really block-booking bed and breakfasts in anticipation of an exodus of housing benefit claimants from inner London boroughs?
“This is of course a last resort. Boroughs don’t want to move people into different homes outside of the capital - this causes disruption and comes at great cost. But unless the government takes on board the proper measures to prevent this housing crisis - like increasing a special hardship fund to help tenants who can’t afford their rents - they might have no choice.
“We urge the government to act before this housing crisis gets to unmanageable proportions where even more pressure is placed on council budgets, and the lives of thousands of Londoners - including many families on low incomes – are put at great risk,” the statement said.
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