Leadership (Abuja)
Prince Charles Dickson With Agency Reports
11 November 2008
A Nigerian mother-of-five is living in a five bedroom, detached house with an annual rent of £25,000 paid for by taxpayers.
The house, worth as much as £1 million at the height of the property boom, is situated in a smart cul-de-sac close to shops in Edgware village, north London.
The tenant, Omowunmi Odia, said today she was pleased to be living there - the family's previous home was a cramped flat.
'I was living in a two-bedroom apartment with my five children and only moved in here two weeks ago,' said Mrs Odia, who is in her thirties.
'They didn't have any council houses big enough for me so I found this one. I like it; the children like it,' she added.
Mrs Odia, who drives a six-year-old family car, was forced out of her previous home after a court order was obtained against her.
Threatened with homelessness, she was rehoused by Barnet council in her new house, bought by its owners in 2005 for £650,000.
Government rules entitle Mrs Odia, who has been in the UK for 10 years, to live in a five-bedroom house.
She lives off benefits and has not been in contact with her husband, who remains in Nigeria, for at least three years.
Mrs Odia's new home also has two large sitting rooms, a conservatory which backs on to a garden, and a double garage. It is, however, unfurnished and most of the rooms are empty bar a leather sofa and armchairs in one of the sitting rooms.
Mrs Odia said the council had tried to rehouse her in Enfield, north London, but she had held out for Edgware, close to her children's schools. One of the bedrooms, she said, was "no bigger than a shoebox".
More than £4 billion of taxpayers' money is being spent on housing benefit across London - an increase of more than 40 per cent in five years.
The new figures will fuel growing concern that private landlords are profiting from a system threatening to spiral out of control.
In the 12 months to April this year, £4.15 billion was spent by the Government on housing benefit in London, compared with £2.94 billion in 2003.
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