Well Done Southwark Council......

[trt]

Who do these people think they are, and I hope other Councils follow suit!

http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/southwark-council-stands-by-decision-to-evict-imam-and-his-family-of-nine/

[waterboatman]

Well done Southwark Council indeed. Lets hope this is the opening of the floodgates.

[Baldric]

Oh dear me, what a shame (not) richly deserved imo.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, it's good to see and hopefully it's an example of how they are taking a similar stand with all others who abuse council housing.

[douglas9401]

More imamming and less horizontal jogging would ease the pressure on family resources.

[naomi24]

^I agree.

[Gromit]

It is good to see the council admitting there mistakes.
The family should never have been allocated this flat in 2014 and it has deprived a genuine homeless family a home for 2 years.
Good to see the Council Director of Housing and the Council Leader have resigned over these errors. Sounds like it has cost a lot in legal fees and administration, so nice to see the people who made this costly error, doing the honourable thing, and falling on their sword.

[youngmafbog]

This family is clearly one of those that thinks the world owes them a living.

Good on the council, one down many more to go though.

[anotheoldgit]

I agree for once with Gromit.

But one has to ask why they were given a council house for such a long period in the first instance?

If they have now to seek private accommodation, why wasn't they left with that choice when they lost their previous home?

They could have been put up temporary in a hostel for a short time until they acquired private rented accommodation.

[naomi24]

aog, //But one has to ask why they were given a council house for such a long period in the first instance? //

I don't understand that question. Many people live in their council houses for life - as long as they pay the rent and stick to the rules, of course.

[hc4361]

naomi, they were given council housing because they were evicted from private housing for rent arrears.
They have been evicted from the council flat because they were in rent arrears with the private landlord, not the council

[Gromit]

The Council seem to be indicating the accommodation was temporary in the first place...

// Telling anybody to leave our temporary accommodation, especially those with children, is always a difficult decision for the council and is always the absolute last resort,” Cllr Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for housing. //

[naomi24]

hc4361, thanks. I wasn't thinking of that.

Sorry, aog. I misunderstood what you were saying.

[anotheoldgit]

naomi24

/// Sorry, aog. I misunderstood what you were saying. ///

That's okay naomi it happens, especially when there seems to be other factors to this case that we are not being made aware of.

[CrapAtCryptics]

They clearly put themselves in this position by not paying their rent - for any sane person thats your number one bill.

[hc4361]

The irony is that this family will be housed in private accommodation and the inflated rent will be paid for by housing benefit, costing more in the long run

[hc4361]

Yes, they did, fender. Was it because of dodgy landlords screwing the system claiming housing benefits for tenants they didn't have?

[Gladeian]

Whatever happens the bottom line is that the taxpayer/council tax payer is going to end up paying for housing for this bunch of scroungers and feeding the parents and then educating their apparently boundless brood.
When will we stop admitting useless people like this ?

[hc4361]

I've just noticed this 'news' was reported in February

[Mamyalynne]

trt does post a lot from archived material.