Homeless people will be moved out of the borough after Croydon Council admitted it could no longer cope with demand.

Croydon Council’s use of emergency bed and breakfasts has risen by 200 per cent in the past year with 429 households in this type of accommodation in May, including more than 600 children.

The council has also identified eight permanent rough sleepers in the borough, while others are believed to spend an average of two days on the streets before receiving help.

Croydon Council is going into partnership with Richmond, Kingston and Sutton councils to buy 150 properties outside London to cope with demand, with Croydon taking the larger portion.

Councillor Dudley Mead, cabinet member for housing, finance and asset management, said: “Unfortunately, it’s an incontrovertible fact that we don’t have enough spare capacity in Croydon for the number of homeless people asking the council for help.

“Obviously, we’d like to be able to offer everybody who comes to us exactly the accommodation, in the area of their choice, they ask for. Sadly, that isn’t possible, and this joint venture with other authorities offers homeless households somewhere to live on a temporary basis.”

People with no strong links to the borough may be offered homes outside Croydon, but the council said no particular area had been identified.

The council pointed to the planned introduction of universal credit next April which will see benefits capped at £500 a month, leaving larger families likely to face a large shortfall.

Despite this the council has decided to use just one quarter of the £2.2 New Homes Bonus from government on providing new accommodation.

The remaining £1.55m has been allocated to use on a range of other projects within the council.

Coun Mead said it was important to build a reserve against later expense.