Britons and former bond traders Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall -- having moved abroad themselves in the past -- set it up as a way of connecting people who are planning to move, or who have just arrived in the city, and need help getting started with accommodation, employment and social opportunities.

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Mr Paes wants to revamp the seedy port area by getting private developers to build accommodation there for the 20, 000 journalists who will cover the games.

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Mr Forbes claimed the changes would not make the predicted savings because "the logical economic choice for a tenant who's getting the bedroom tax imposed on them is to move to more expensive, smaller private sector accommodation".

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