A FAMILY blamed for causing their own overcrowding by a London council has won a High Court battle to be prioritised for social housing. 

The legal action was launched after Southwark council excluded the family of five from social housing, claiming that their move into overcrowded accommodation was a “deliberate act.” 

Milton Laines Roman, who moved to London from Ecuador in 2016, has been living in a tiny studio flat with his wife and three children in the heavily gentrified area of Elephant and Castle for five years. 

According to the council’s own house allocation policy, these conditions mean Mr Roman’s family were eligible to be prioritised for housing.

But the council suggested that, because Mr Roman had willingly moved to Southwark where private rent is some of the highest on average in London, he had caused his own statutory overcrowding. 

This was a position Southwark maintained for more than five years. But in a victory for the family and housing campaigners, the High Court earlier this week overturned the decision.

It ruled council housing applicants cannot be said to have caused their own statutory overcrowding by a “deliberate act” if they cannot afford more suitable housing. 

The court also ruled that it was “understandable” that the family had wanted to remain in Southwark as they rely heavily on their local church and community. 

Mr Roman said he was relieved that the judge understood his family’s situation.

“Southwark have constantly disbelieved me and my wife and tried to make us feel as though we were in the wrong,” he said. 

In their battle to be relocated within the borough, campaigners said the family were subjected to “disgusting treatment” by the council, which allegedly told Mr Roman he should not have brought his family to Britain. 

Sam Tippet from the Public Interest Law Centre, which represented the family, said: “In this case, the message from the council has been loud and clear: if you are a working-class migrant family, don’t move into Southwark.”

Councillor Darren Merrill, cabinet member for council homes and homelessness, said the council respects the decision of the court. 

“We should not have described them as deliberately overcrowded, and we are sorry we got this wrong,” he said.