A FAMILY of former asylum seekers is living in a £1.8m central London home at a cost to the taxpayer of £1,600 a week, despite a pledge by ministers to crack down on housing benefit payments.

Somali-born Nasra Warsame, seven of her children and her mother moved into the six-bedroom property last month after Westminster council agreed to pay the rent.

Her husband and an eighth child are living in a separate “overspill” property also paid for by housing benefit. Warsame’s five-storey home boasts three sitting rooms and four bathrooms. It is within walking distance of the West End.

This weekend critics said the £1,600 payment — £83,000 a year — was “excessive” and accused the government of failing to get to grips with Britain’s annual £17 billion housing benefit bill.

Last year James Purnell, then work and pensions secretary, promised to make housing benefit “fair to taxpayers” as well as to people on low incomes.

Today’s revelations, however, appear to contradict that claim. The Warsame family home is part of a smart 1960s development just yards from Edgware Road Underground station.

It is understood that the house was previously rented out at £800 per week — considered by estate agents in the area as the going rate for similar properties. It is unclear why the taxpayer is having to pay twice that rate.

“The new house we moved into in October is a nice house and it is in a nice area,” said Warsame, 40. “It is quiet and it is convenient and we do not want to leave.” Her mother and her children, who are aged between two and 16, enjoy the use of a spacious living room with two leather sofas and a flatscreen television, as well as two other lounges. Some of the bedrooms have balconies overlooking a courtyard.

The family was placed in the property because its previous five-bedroom home in Maida Vale, northwest London, was considered too small by council officials. At that address, the weekly rent — which was also covered by housing benefit — was £800.

“It is better than the house we were living in in Maida Vale which was quite small,” said Warsame. “We were getting complaints from neighbours that the children were being too noisy.”

Warsame’s unemployed husband, Bashir Aden, 50, is living with the couple’s eighth child at a two-bedroom council flat in the neighbouring London borough of Camden. He said the family has had to opt for two separate homes because it could not find a big enough property to house everyone under the same roof.

The couple fled unrest in Somalia in 1991 and claimed asylum on their arrival in Britain. They have since been granted citizenship and all of their children were born here.

Warsame, however, could now be evicted from her latest home. The property is in the hands of receivers after its original owner failed to keep up with mortgage payments. The receivers claim it has been rented out illegally.

Last year it emerged that Toorpakai Saindi, an Afghan mother of seven, was receiving £12,000 a month to live in a seven-bedroom property, complete with 100ft garden, in west London.

At the time, Purnell described the payments by Ealing council as “unacceptable” and ordered a review of housing benefit.

A cap has since been placed on payments for any property with five bedrooms or more, but this limit varies from one council to another. Meanwhile, a public consultation on reform has failed to materialise.

Philippa Roe, the cabinet member for housing at Tory-led Westminster council, said: “The amount of housing benefit payable for tenants is determined by government policy. We would like to see the entire system changed to enable local councils to have more control.”

A spokesman for the work and pensions department said: “We will launch our consultation on further reforms to housing benefit shortly. We want the system to be fair both to families in need and to the taxpayer.”

“It is right that we have a benefits system that helps people to keep a roof over their heads, but this claim clearly goes beyond that,” said Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group.

“The government has talked the talk about reining in and clamping down, but there is very little evidence that they are implementing that in practice.”

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Source: Timesonline

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