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Special report by Dan Douglas

Homeless people from London have been secretly dumped in Birmingham – packed off with nothing more than a train ticket.

And the city council has admitted it is “gravely concerned” after receiving evidence that desperate families have been kept in emergency B&B, without its knowledge.

Newham Council has paid for 40 homeless families to stay at the Bailey Hotel in Hagley Road, Harborne, since October.

The former London residents include eight months’ pregnant Kate*, who has been living at the hotel for two months.

Yet she has now been told that Newham will evict her at the beginning of August, meaning she may be forced to declare herself homeless to Birmingham City Council. She will then become its responsibility.

Kate had been living for more than a year in her mother’s flat in London, sleeping on the floor. She was kicked out when she became pregnant.

“I was 26 weeks the first time I went to the council and they said they couldn’t help me and I should stay with people I know.”

After two nights of being homeless she was offered accommodation – more than 100 miles away in Brum.

“I went back the third day [to Newham housing officers] and was told I’d be put in Birmingham and I said, ‘okay. I just need a place to go to. Take me anywhere’.

“The second week I was in Birmingham I was hospitalised for four days. I was dehydrated, my blood pressure was low, low potassium, low iron.

‘‘I stayed four days and recovered and was on a drip. The doctors weren’t comfortable with me leaving the hospital. I hadn’t been eating or drinking properly because of the stress, I guess.

“Being homeless and pregnant is so very hard. I went to my doctor and said I’ve had enough. I was so down. They referred me to a counsellor.”

Fellow former Newham resident Omar* has been living with his wife and four children at Bailey Hotel for seven months, even though the legal limit should be no more than six weeks.

But the family is also moving out as Newham has now declared them “intentionally homeless”, meaning they may also become the responsibility of the city council.

Yet support services in Birmingham say they have not received information about homeless families arriving from the capital and described communication between the two cities as “non-existent”.

In November the Local Government Association (LGA) held a meeting with council officials from across the country and agreed to draft a code of practice whereby information on homeless would be sent to the receiving area, including names and details relating to social services, health and vulnerability.

In February this year Birmingham’s council leader Sir Albert Bore wrote to the LGA formally highlighting concerns that nothing had changed.

Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the LGA, replied in March saying that “LGA officers will follow this up with your officers”.

But so far, according to Birmingham, no follow-up has taken place. Its officers recently travelled from Birmingham to the capital for a private meeting with officers from London boroughs to re-emphasise the need for better communication.

Steve Bedser, Birmingham’s cabinet member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “The rumours we’ve been hearing are now turning into hard facts. We’re gravely concerned about these people.

“Birmingham has received no communication from Newham about these homeless households and our immediate priority is to make sure they are properly taken care of by the system, because it rings all sorts of alarm bells.

‘‘It’s the vulnerability of the people that worries us and the kinds of things that might happen if we’re not aware they’re here.

“Quite apart from the bread and butter planning issues that any council might reasonably want to take account of, like schools provision and talking to the NHS about medical facilities, there are all kinds of risks about children and safeguarding.

‘‘We know that children in homeless families are intrinsically more vulnerable and we need to know that those kids are landing in Birmingham so that our social workers have got a fighting chance of giving them support.’’

And he added: “We’re absolutely not throwing up the drawbridge. We’re proud of our diversity so we’re not fighting a rearguard action.

“My immediate priority is about making sure these vulnerable families are properly taken account of by the system.

‘‘There is a real communication issue to be addressed here and this is a set of circumstances where there is genuine urgent risk.”

In a wider investigation, The Guardian newspaper has revealed London councils do not share information with councils across the country when moving homeless people and families out of the capital.

Last year 580 homeless households were moved out of London into temporary accommodation.

In Newham, the number of homeless families has rocketed from 72 in 2010 to 381 in 2012 – the highest rise in all of London.

A spokesman for Newham Council said: “Newham is experiencing a housing crisis and a growing number of people are presenting themselves to the council as homeless both within Newham and from elsewhere.

‘‘As a result, our resources are under tremendous pressure.

“Our priority has been assisting the high number of homeless families in the borough find accommodation. We have a shortage of quality temporary accommodation in Newham and this has been further reduced as there are significant numbers of households placed here by other London boroughs, due to cuts to housing benefit, and that number is growing.

“The temporary accommodation provided in Birmingham and other boroughs outside Newham is for residents who require emergency housing, while we investigate their homelessness application.

‘The Pan London Agreement ensures that all London boroughs inform each other of any out of borough placements and it has been proposed to extend this to include local authorities outside the capital.

“We have recently been in touch with Birmingham Council and will now provide them with regular updates.

“There have been 40 families placed temporarily accommodated in the Bailey Hotel since October 2012 while their homelessness applications were considered.

“There are currently only 11 families staying there.”

* Names have been changed at the request of individuals in order to protect their identity.

*http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jul/09/homeless-households-off-radar-public-services