1/7 Reading a report from LSE commissioned by #Camden Council re: reasons why homeless families are stuck in #TemporaryAccommodation (DM if you'd like a copy!). Here are some thoughts...

2/7 Preliminary point: the research focused on why families with children are resistant to accepting PRS offers out of borough. The fact that this remained a mystery to council officers in June 2019 is... interesting.

3/7 It says that the avg no. of points required to successfully bid for 2-bed housing was 300. This is objectively wrong & a drastic underestimate. Avg according to #Camden website is 500, and anecdotally (based on interviews w/ scores of clients) appears to be closer to ~600-800

4/7 Households who 'choose' to apply as homeless are given reduced priority for #SocialHousing compared w/ those who make arrangements for themselves eg by staying with family. This belies a gross misunderstanding of the causes of homelessness, EVEN ACCORDING TO THE SAME REPORT

5/7 Top 3 causes of homelessness were: being evicted by family (161 applicants), termination of #PRS tenancy (130), and violence, harassment or abuse (83), plus 110 for 'other reasons'. None of these families 'chose' to apply as homeless or live in temporary accommodation

6/7 This system de-prioritises the most vulnerable families - those with nowhere left to turn and virtually no support network. It shows a lack of sympathy and a fundamental misunderstanding of #homelessness by pushing the blame onto the victims.

7/7 Meanwhile there were 1,210 empty homes in #Camden in 2018, 3rd most of any #London borough - as compared w/ <500 homeless families. This appears to be a clear policy choice not to rehouse homeless families (at least in social housing) in the name of 'incentivising prevention'