£1,500 for families to move out of area

Housing bosses will hand out the cash in a bid to cut down the waiting list for council accommodation.

Mums, dads and their children could be relocated as far away as Liverpool or Wigan under the scheme.

Families in temporary council accommodation, council tenants with a good behaviour record and housing association tenants will be eligible to apply for the lump sum, and can then search the database for a suitable new area.

Once moved, the families would become the responsibility of the council in the area they move to.

The year-long pilot scheme, which will swallow up almost a third of Fareham Council's homelessness budget for the next 12 months, has been launched in an attempt to free up more social housing.

The authority has 2,000 people and 500 families on its housing waiting list. It has just 2,400 properties, all of which are already full.

Fareham Council's chief strategic housing officer Martin George said the scheme is one of just a few being piloted in the south to combat the problem of people in temporary accommodation that are classed as homeless.

He said: "We've put up funds for six families over the year. We receive hundreds of inquiries from people who need to find a place to live and this is just one of the options we would like to promote and ask people to consider."

The initiative is an extension of the council's Fresh Start scheme, launched a year ago to help people find social housing in other areas of the country. This is the first time cash has been offered as an incentive, though.

Councillor Ernest Crouch, Fareham Council's executive member for housing, said the families involved would play a part in choosing where they went.

"This is ideal for people who have no real ties in Fareham and want to make a fresh start," he said.

"The amount of money we've allocated to this will help free up houses. On its own that money would not go anywhere near providing a house for a family.

"If it is successful I would like to see this scheme expanded next year, with more money behind it.

"Some councils in the north have houses to spare and are as anxious to fill them as we are to free ours up."

The idea has been backed by national homeless charity Shelter, as long as families are relocated responsibly.

A spokesman said: "We applaud this scheme but only if the families are relocated in areas with reasonable health and education services nearby. It would not be right if families with children were put in homes far away from schools."

However, Fareham Community Centre chairman Audrey Sitch said it was ridiculous that the money was being spent on sending people away from the borough when it was needed for the existing community.

The Queens Street centre is due to close in 2006 because council chiefs refused to put money into it. Mrs Sitch said: "They are going to spend a whole lot of money on that scheme but they're not going to do anything to help us keep the centre going. I am very unhappy about it.

"That money could have been used to keep the centre open. It will be pulled down and social housing will be built in its place."

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