Industry News


Homelessness Reduction Act increasing numbers in TA


cope with rising numbers of people facing homelessness and a lack of affordable housing for them. The findings of a Local Government Association


M


survey coincided with the first anniversary of the Homelessness Reduction Act, which placed a renewed focus on homelessness prevention and introduced a range of new duties on councils. In all some 151 councils participated in the survey. Since 2017, local authorities have been housing


more than 200,000 households in temporary accommodation, including in bed and breakfasts, hostels and private rented accommodation, with over half of them children. The number of people presenting themselves to


councils as homeless is continuing to rise while the number of households in temporary accommodation is up more than 70 per cent since 2010 and the burden on councils and their budgets continues to increase. To coincide with the anniversary of the Act, the survey of councils by the LGA revealed:


• 8 in 10 councils have seen an increase in homelessness presentations since the introduction of the Act;


• 6 in 10 councils said it had increased the number


ore people are being placed in temporary and emergency accommodation as councils struggle to


of people being housed in temporary and emergency accommodation. The same number of councils say the length of time people spend in temporary and emergency accommodation has increased;


• Limited access to affordable housing and a lack of suitable accommodation for people already sleeping rough is a serious concern for 91 per cent of councils;


• Councils across the country say excessive levels of paperwork required by the Act are costing them too much in administration costs and are hampering their ability to meet the needs of people at risk of homelessness; and


• Councils are determined to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place.


DESPERATE NEEDS The LGA said it is crucial that councils can keep 100 per cent of the receipts of any homes they sell to replace them and reinvest in building more of the genuinely affordable homes they desperately need and adapt welfare reforms to prevent people from losing their home where possible. LGA housing spokesman Cllr Martin Tett, said:


“Behind every instance of homelessness lies an individual tragedy and councils are determined to prevent it from happening and support homeless people in their communities into accommodation as quickly and as effectively as possible.


The number of people presenting themselves to councils as homeless is continuing to rise while the number of households in temporary accommodation is up more than 70 per cent since 2010


“Many councils have updated their homelessness


prevention strategies since the Act was introduced last year. But a lack of affordable housing has left many struggling to cope with rising number of people coming to them for help and having to place more families and households into temporary and emergency accommodation as a result. This is bad for families and communities, expensive for councils and not the aim of the Act. “The wider factors that are increasing


homelessness also need to be addressed if the Act is to be a success. Councils need to keep 100 per cent of RTB sales receipts to replace homes sold and to adapt welfare reforms to protect families at risk of homelessness and prevent homelessness from happening in the first place.”


Councils in the capital pay landlords £14m in ‘incentives’ to house homeless people


London councils paid private landlords more than £14m last year in “incentives” to persuade them to house homeless people, in addition to rents and other fees. The payouts were branded as “ludicrous” by


housing campaigners and “intolerable” by councils. The payments of up to £8,300 each were made to landlords more than 5,700 times in 2018 to house people who were either homeless or at risk of homelessness. Barnet Council in north London, paid out the


largest amount totalling £1.5m in order to secure housing. In the past five years, the borough has built only 20 council houses while across London just 680 new council homes were built during the last 12 months. Councils at Hillingdon, Haringey and Barking


& Dagenham also spent more than £1m each. Councils claimed some landlords played different councils off against each other to increase payouts and that the system was vulnerable to abuse.


Barking & Dagenham has sold 48,500 council


homes under the Right to Buy and is spending more than £800,000 a year renting back sold-off properties. Ealing, which spent £770,000 on incentives, said it saved the council money by keeping people out of shabbier, but more expensive emergency and temporary accommodation.


CASH SWEETENERS The payments were revealed in response to freedom of information requests. The fall in social housebuilding and a widening


gap between housing benefit and market rents appear to be fuelling the payments. Polly Neate, the Chief Executive of Shelter, said:


“It is ludicrous that councils have to resort to handing out cash sweeteners to secure housing for desperate families, when there’s a much more sustainable solution - build social housing on an ambitious scale.” Shelter is campaigning for a national programme to build 3.1m new affordable homes over the next 20 years.


Landlords said the payments compensated them


for accepting homeless tenants who are more likely to fall behind on their rent, especially if they received Universal Credit which makes payments in arrears. David Smith, Policy Director at the Residential


Landlords Association, said: “Councils should be focusing more on supporting tenants [so they don’t become homeless]. Bribing people isn’t the answer. You end up with people taking tenants who don’t really want them and then evicting them later.” Cllr Darren Rodwell, the housing lead at London


Councils, said the level of payments was “a symptom of London’s broken housing market”. “At a time when our funding from central government has been reduced by 63 per cent since 2010, we would much rather be investing in frontline services,” he said. London councils are setting up a joint body,


Capital Letters, to purchase housing using collective bargaining and to reduce competition between councils for the same homes.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM April/May 2019 | 17


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