AN INVESTIGATION by TV presenter Ross Kemp has revealed that hundreds of hundreds of homeless are being sent to Bradford by other councils to save money or because they have not got enough space to house them.

The actor’s programme, being shown on ITV tonight at 7.30pm, reveals that nearly 300 households from 31 districts, including from London, Kent and Essex, had been moved to Bradford over the last two years.

Ross Kemp said: “We are living in the middle of a housing crisis, with a shortfall of some four million homes. Local authorities are having to look outside their boroughs to find accommodation.

“Twenty-four thousand people young and old have had little choice but to move in some cases hundreds of miles away from friends, families, schools and jobs just to keep a roof above their heads.”

The programme found vulnerable families who agreed to be moved by local councils, sometimes many miles away from loved ones, in order to keep a roof over their heads.

The programme was filmed before and during lockdown.

At a food bank in Bradford, Ross meets families from a variety of areas in the south east, who say that they were told that refusing their council’s offers of accommodation 200 miles away from home would bring shocking repercussions.

There, Nick, previously of Chatham in Kent, says Medway council told him: “Because I was in temporary accommodation, if I didn’t move [to Bradford] they would take my five children off me and put them in care.”

Medway Council said it had increasing demand for social housing, and relocation was sometimes an option for people in temporary accommodation, but they wouldn’t be relocated unless they chose to move.

At a block of flats in Bradford, Ross meets Austin, from Barnet, who has his own theory: “The whole incentive is just to get rid of the undesirables. Those that are either out of work, they’ve an addiction problem, a mental health problem, so they send them somewhere else.”

Barnet told the programme that residents were only housed outside the capital in a small percentage of cases, and they did their best to support them once they were.

The issue is not simply confined to Bradford, says Gavin Callaghan, the elected leader of Basildon Council, who explains the first they often hear about people being moved into their area is when they start using council services, like schools.

He says: “In the last four years over 700 children have come into the borough through the displacement from London boroughs scheme. That’s put a huge, huge pressure on school places, on GP practices, and on the hospital.”

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “This has been an issue we identified several years ago. It started when Government brought in the Housing Benefit cap making it more expensive for local authorities to house benefit claimants in areas where the property values are high.

“As a result, when we come across new residents who have been sent to live here from another authority, we regularly make contact with that authority asking them why they are not informing us of what they are doing.

“We have worked with the Local Government Association (LGA) to develop a national protocol on inter-borough placements which, importantly, should make sure that local authorities sending people to our city do so with our knowledge. As this piece of work has been done through the LGA, it is anticipated that the majority of local authorities will adhere to procedures it sets out.

“At the same time, we have developed and agreed a protocol that works with our neighbouring authorities in West Yorkshire. When we become aware of an out of borough placement, we contact the placing authority to remind them of their legal responsibility to inform us of the placement and ensure all further notifications are sent.

“At the moment, local authorities are allowed under homelessness legislation to place households in areas outside of their borough.

“Privately rented housing costs are extremely high in the South East and London with little provision for social housing. This means some people are waiting in temporary accommodation for many years before they can be rehoused. It is a cheaper and faster alternative to rehousing people their local authority area.

“However, they must follow procedure and inform the receiving authority in writing of whom they are placing, where, and when.

“The problems we have experienced are that we have not always been notified of placements, they are not always in properties that meet the required standards and some have been completely inappropriate.

“When we come across such a placement, we do checks on the property to make sure that it complies with health and safety assessments. Where we have come across landlords who do not comply with the standards, we will take the necessary enforcement action or refer them to the appropriate service.”

The Council said that it had accommodated 276 homeless households during the Covid-19 pandemic between March 23 and June 28 and none had been placed in another district.

A total of 112 of the 276 are rough sleepers part of Everyone In scheme as required by Government.

Philip Davies (Con, Shipley) said: “I am certainly aware of the issue and we certainly cannot become a place where other local authorities send their homeless people to as we have many people looking for accommodation here already.

“One thing the council should do is to ensure they encourage the building of more affordable homes on brownfield sites in Bradford instead of their current strategy of encouraging highly expensive housing on the green belt in my constituency which does nothing to help those who are struggling to get appropriate housing.”