Those waiting to be housed by Harrow Council will now have to find accommodation elsewhere as the authority admits: "We're full."
With the council's 5,000-strong housing stock at breaking point, those on waiting lists will now have to be housed out of the London borough, or even out of the country with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland among the possible destinations.
With 800 on the waiting list, the council is forced to pay for 150 homeless families to live in bed and breakfasts, costing Harrow taxpayers £1.4million each year, equating to £15 a household.
"That just is not sustainable," said Councillor Glen Hearnden, Labour's cabinet member for housing. "With regard to our housing stock, we're full, and our only option then is to build more homes.
"That is exactly what we are doing , but it takes time, so in the meantime we have to put a roof over people's heads in temporary accommodation, and that is where bed and breakfasts come in. However we can't operate like we have been for any longer, and if you talk to people who are living in temporary housing, they rarely find it a good experience."
getwestlondon reported in February that Harrow Council had been illegally keeping children and pregnant women in temporary accommodation for longer than the allowed six-week period, and that problem is only set to deepen.
Since 2013, Harrow Council have accepted 180 families as statutorily homeless, four times the annual amount since central government welfare reform came into force .
Mr Hearnden added: "This is not what we want to do, but if something is broken, you have to fix it, and that is why we need to find these people proper, permanent homes.
"We have contacts all throughout the country, so what we need to do is have conversations with people on the waiting list and see what is viable.
"It could be that a family has a son about to start a course in London which is also available in, say Coventry, so that is an example of how we can assess each scenario."
The council maintain that it will strive to meet the cultural and religious needs of those who are being housed elsewhere.
In 2013, then-portfolio holder for housing Bob Currie suggested that giving financial incentives to those on waiting lists to move abroad was an option in addressing the housing question for Harrow. That has however now been ruled out by Mr Hearnden.
