London councils are moving families into south west Hertfordshire and increasing the pressure on the housing market.

Rising rent rates have forced inner-city councils to find homes in outer London boroughs.

But these councils are now paying for people on their housing registers to live in south west Hertfordshire to cut their waiting lists.

More than 200 homeless families in Watford and 55 in Three Rivers have been forced to stay in bed and breakfasts, hotels and homes in Harlow, Slough and Luton this year while wait for a property to become available in their home districts.

Watford Borough Council has been forced to rent an entire block of flats in Harrow for temporary accommodation, while the Watford Observer has reported cases of people being forced to travel to schools in Hertfordshire while living in Essex.

London authorities are also taking advantage of more government funding and housing people in the private rented sector in south west Hertfordshire where rents are cheaper.

Watford’s Elected Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said: “They are doing it because they have no choice. The costs are so high.

“Homelessness has quadrupled in Watford and it is on the rise exponentially nationally.

“The solution is that we need more social housing. We need more cheap properties that people can afford to live in in this area.

“It is our number one problem. You can’t event estimate how much money you will need because you don’t know how many people will be affected.

“What we see turning up in the council is the tip of the iceberg because we do not have to house people who are not deemed as a priority. That includes single people and they are having to sleep rough.”

Baroness Thornhill added: “We have no way of identifying how many people have been housed from different authorities in the private sector.”

Barnet Homes, which works on behalf of Barnet Council, admitted it had housed a family in Three Rivers in November.

Councillor Sara Bedford, leader of Three Rivers District Council, said: "We need additional for our own residents.

"It is not good for the families coming in or moving away because it is destroying family relationships. It is moving children away from their schools, it is taking parents away from their child care and it is making it more difficult to hold a job."