A Lambeth family has been living in temporary accommodation 140 miles away in Herefordshire for over five years. The family is one of 256 homeless households from the South London borough staying in temporary housing outside the capital as of December 31 last year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows.

Another Lambeth family had been in temporary accommodation in Herefordshire for over four years of the end of 2024, according to the same FOI, submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service .

Lambeth’s town hall in Brixton is more than a three-and-a-half hour drive from HerefordshireThe train journey from Brixton to Hereford takes almost four hours and involves several changes.

Councils are required by law to provide people living in the borough who become homeless with temporary accommodation while they look to find a suitable permanent home. A severe shortage of cheap housing in London and the South East coupled with a surge in people becoming homeless means local authorities in the capital are placing more and more people further away from the city.

Lambeth Council is currently providing 4,700 homeless households with temporary accommodation—an increase of 50 per cent in the last two years. The council spends £100 million per year on housing families in temporary accommodation.

A council spokesperson said: “Lambeth is one of the country’s biggest social housing landlords, with more than 33,000 council homes, but we are on the front line of a national housing crisis. We are committed to providing the most suitable accommodation available to everyone who comes to us needing a roof above their heads.

“But the acute shortage of affordable accommodation and the rising number of people needing a home means it is not always possible to find suitable, permanent accommodation within our borough. This means we sometimes have to house people in temporary accommodation, outside Lambeth”