Nurses and school workers could be sleeping on the streets by the middle of the week if the Mayor of London doesn't stop their evictions from police-owned homes.

A petition with 1,700 signatures pleading with Boris Johnson to stop the evictions of 37 families from Raynesfield in Raynes Park and 30 Griffiths Road in Wimbledon was delivered to City Hall last Wednesday.

Some families have already been rehoused, or have found alternative private accommodation. But many still have nowhere to go, and are praying for a last-minute reprieve.

A nurse at St George's Hospital, who has lived at Raynesfield for 20 years, said: "To be honest I really don't know what I will do because my daughter goes to school in the area and I can't afford anything here."

Due to be evicted on Wednesday, she said she hopes Merton Council will offer her alternative accommodation on the day.

However, the council, which sold off all its housing stock in 2010, said it can do little to assist residents.

Councillor Andrew Judge, cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration, who started the petition, said: "I am appalled at the insensitivity of this decision to evict families so that their homes can be sold to developers.

"Boris Johnson has offered them no real assistance at all. These are nurses and people who work in our schools and care services.

"I have heard heart-rending accounts of families being broken up, children having to leave their schools and of possessions being given away.

"Boris still has time to do the decent thing. He must stop the remaining evictions and use the resources of City Hall to find suitable alternative accommodation for these families."

Crown Housing Association has been renting the properties to tenants for about £560 per month on behalf of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

Residents, who are all on low salaries, said estate agents demand a minimum annual salary of £38,000 to rent privately in the area.

A MOPAC spokesman said: "The Met is currently undergoing the biggest restructure of its estate in 50 years and all of the money raised will be pumped back into frontline policing right across the capital.

"Neither of these properties are currently on the market and as yet no decision been made about their disposal."

Evictions from the estates have already begun, and are due to be completed by Tuesday, November 4.