Families bring legal action against London borough after being on waiting list for housing for years
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is carrying out an investigation of claims of corruption and racism made by a group of Somali families who are taking legal action after what they have said has been a wait of many years for adequate housing.
The case was the subject of a lengthy feature in the Observer newspaper.
This report said dozens of families claimed they had been systemically removed from housing waiting lists by Tower Hamlets due to their race, and some had been placed in severely unfit and unsafe homes that posed health risks.
Most of those now taking legal action had spent long periods on the waiting list, some more than a decade
The Observer report said there were multiple claims of families being asked to pay money to move up the waiting list either by council officials or strangers who identified themselves as housing officers, though it could not confirm if any of these individuals were linked to the council.
A statement supplied by Tower Hamlets said: “We take allegations of this nature seriously and are actively working with these families via their representative to ensure their complaints are thoroughly and appropriately investigated through the council’s formal complaints procedure.
“We have yet to receive full details and evidence for the vast majority of these complaints, but the complaints that we have received are currently being investigated. The remaining residents have been offered support and are strongly encouraged to send in these complaints for investigation.”
The council said it had thousands more people on its waiting list than there were available homes and competing demands meant difficult decisions had to be made.
It said its allocations process made clear how decisions were made so those not offered a home could understand why.
Tower Hamlets said it had more than 23,000 households on its housing register and around one-sixth of households were classed as overcrowded.
Mark Smulian
