Homelessness Scandal - Waiting List Figures Reach 17,000

12.36.00pm GMT Wed 11th Feb 2009

Another boarded-up empty property left to rot by Labour Lambeth Council.

Labour stands accused of a heartless and uncaring attitude to homelessness in one of the most deprived and overcrowded London Boroughs. Official figures show that the number of households of Lambeth's waiting list has soared since Labour took control in 2006.

Government statistics put the housing waiting list at 15,473 but more recent figures obtained by Lib Dem Councillors suggest that the true figure is now closer to 17,000. Even this shocking figure has to be set against a record 1100 council properties that currently lie empty, or void, because Labour simply lacks the will to see these homes put to good use.

Many homes lie empty for want of even a few hundred pounds being spent on them. And Lib Dem councillors have already exposed that the Council has itself vandalised many of its empty homes in a bizarre bid to deter squatting.

Yet even this curious and wasteful ploy has not stopped squatting and local area housing managers report that they are no longer able to keep up with the numbers of empty homes currently being squatted. In one notorious case, a whole block of flats on the leafy borders of Clapham was allowed to be squatted in the Labour Cabinet Member for Housing's own ward and the eventual clear-up bill is still not known.

Meanwhile Lib Dem Councillors are being bombarded with requests from desperate families to be allocated to empty properties that require work that they are prepared to do up themselves. Even some Labour MP's cannot fathom why Lambeth Labour refuses to let them.

Perhaps the biggest scandal in all this is Lambeth Labour's cold-hearted response - sell 'em off and sell 'em cheap.

Auction rooms are currently buzzing to the sound of Lambeth Labour getting out of Council Housing fast.

Lambeth Lib Dem Group Chair, Cllr Brian Palmer, said "The way that Labour is treating homelessness in Lambeth is a scandal of the highest order. Labour has shown that it is no longer interested in providing solutions to homelessness."

Cllr Palmer added, "Empty properties are a canker on the face of Labour that reminds everyone of their cold indifference towards those who seek the basic requirement of a roof over their head. Lib Dems are calling for urgent action to avoid a looming housing disaster and social discord."