London Gypsies and Travellers charity claims communities in the borough “disproportionately endured the homelessness crisis”, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Advocacy groups are calling on Enfield Council to set up a rental arrears forgiveness scheme for Gypsy and Traveller residents.

A report produced by the charities London Gypsies and Travellers and Trust for London says these communities in the borough “disproportionately endured the homelessness crisis”.

The organisations found “casework in Enfield dominated the accommodation advice service [at London Gypsies and Travellers] more than any other borough in the period between 2020 and 2024”.

Furthermore, between 2020 and 2022, support requests from families in Enfield “more than doubled”.

Much of the issue, according to the report, came from the way information, casework and services were transferred between departments at Enfield Council and council-owned company Housing Gateway Ltd.

Nancy Hawker, a policy and research officer at London Gypsies and Travellers, said: “What we wanted to highlight specifically with regards to our problem in Enfield is a [lack] of clear information. Clear information is a practice that costs nothing.”

Addressing a public meeting on the findings today (Friday 24th), Nancy said: “We already have all the ways of communicating. We’re just not using them well enough and our accommodation advice service is an expert at communicating, but even with their expertise they’ve not been able to resolve problems.”

The report, entitled A Triple Housing Crisis, lists a timeline of events that show how the issue started. But Olli Wells, an officer at London Gypsies and Travellers, said: “It’s very clear no-one has intentionally tried to create this situation.”

The council’s new out-of-borough relocation policy – with temporary housing offers to homeless families now mostly being made for properties in the north-east of England, and refusals leading to a termination of the council’s statutory housing duties – was blamed, alongside rent rises by Housing Gateway and Enfield Let.

Enfield Let, which closed over the summer, was a private letting arm of Housing Gateway Ltd, managed by the council. It was designed to place temporary accommodation households into private sector tenancies, while keeping tenants on the housing register.

However, “arrears mounted” for many Gypsy and Traveller households on the scheme, as their housing tenancies moved from temporary to private rent “often without tenants understanding the changes and requirements”.

Some solutions proposed by the charities include ensuring rents align with the local housing allowance, the launching of an arrears forgiveness scheme, and a reduction in the reliance on private landlords.

Speaking about the private rental sector, Olli said: “One of the major issues that prevents a lot of families from seeking private rentals is the risk and fear of private landlords being discriminatory. We’ve endless data about how that is already an issue.”

Agreeing with Olli was Karen Maguire, lead council officer for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community in Enfield, who said: “There’s a lot of legal terminology in there which can be very overwhelming but then, for the officer that’s delivering that [housing update], they have to, from a statutory position, respond to the Homeless[ness] Act.

“Then, it falls on us as officers and advocacy groups to try and explain that [to GRTs]. That’s something we want to do in the new year. We want to simplify that [process] and somehow make it easier to understand, even if it’s not always good news [being communicated].

“I have a lot of families call me outside of hours because they struggle with form filling. There’s over 13,000 cases my colleagues in housing are dealing with currently and sometimes when you can’t get through to someone on the phone it’s a frustration, but I think we can try and find ways to do things better.”

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