London police officers 'facing eviction'

Police accommodation is earmarked for new recruits

By the BBC's Fran Abrams

Ken Livingstone's London police authority has been accused of trying to evict dozens of police officers from their homes despite a desperate shortage of affordable housing.

The officers are being forced out because under an agreement with the Home Office, police accommodation is reserved for new recruits.

Many say they have to leave London if they are made to give up their homes, because they cannot afford to find alternative accommodation in the capital.

I find it quite ironic that they are even considering throwing police officers out onto the streets when there's a shortage of police officers in the Met

PC Andrew Joines

The Met already has a huge shortfall when it comes to police numbers and its Commissioner Sir John Stevens has warned that his force is 3,000 officers short.

Mr Livingstone, the Mayor for London, set up a commission last year to investigate the problems facing key workers such as police, nurses and teachers, with even the cheapest London accommodation beyond their reach.

The commission found London needed 28,000 affordable homes per year for the next decade in order to deal with the crisis.

The threatened evictions came to light during an investigation by Radio 4's File on Four programme, to be broadcast on Tuesday evening.

The programme interviewed PC Andrew Joines, a community safety officer in the Paddington Green area.

A single parent who was living in a police flat in Little Venice with his seven year-old daughter, he has been given a stay of execution until October.

'Retention problems'

PC Joines said the Police Federation had told him it knew of 81 other officers in a similar position.

It was sad that the office of the Mayor, a champion of affordable housing for key workers, should be presiding over such action, he said.

"I find it quite ironic that they are even considering throwing police officers out onto the streets when there's a shortage of police officers in the Met," told File on Four.

"There's a desperate retention problem and they don't seem to be tackling the issues."

PC Joines said if he had to leave the home he had occupied for eight years he might have to move back to Staffordshire, where his parents live.

Flats in his area cost between £350,000 and £1 million, he said - way beyond his £27,000 salary.

'Stress'

"Life's stressful enough holding down a full-time job and being a single parent without having to worry about whether you are going to have a roof over your head the next day," he said.

"I don't want to leave Paddington Green. I police the area where I live, and that's important."

The director of resources for the Metropolitan Police Authority, Keith Luck, said in a statement that under an agreement with the Home Office, police accommodation was reserved for new recruits.

It was an important principle that officers should make their own arrangements well before retirement, he added.

"The Met makes every effort to meet the housing needs of its recruits, or in exceptional cases, those who find themselves in housing need, from its own limited resources," he said.

"By working with other agencies the Met is also seeking to facilitate affordable housing in London for greater numbers of police officers."

Fran Abrams investigates for File on Four, BBC Radio 4 Tuesday 20 February 2000gmt, repeated Sunday 25 February 1700gmt