Across the country, Local Authorities are struggling to meet the demand for homeless temporary accommodation, forcing them to look further away. This practice, known as out-of-area placements, has risen by 344% since 2010.
The majority of out-of-area placements impact people who live in London. Recent statistics show that 36% of households accepted as homeless were placed in a different borough to where they originally presented as homeless.
Justlife has interviewed people who presented as homeless to the council in Brighton, only to be sent between 10 to 31km away in Eastbourne, Peacehaven and Newhaven.
Most of the people interviewed mentioned not having a choice over their placement, not knowing how long they were going to be there, and the impact that being far from their support networks was having on their mental health. The distance also made it difficult to attend health or therapeutic appointments back in Brighton, leading to missed appointments and health needs not being met.