Editor: It’s no secret that housing and homelessness are at the top of many local authority (LA) agendas. The unprecedented spike in the use of temporary accommodation (TA), at a cost of £1.7bn last year, is driving a coach and horses through many local budgets
As we approach the local government settlement, and at a time when most LAs are preparing budgets for the next financial year, the choice before the Westminster government is clear.
In Eastbourne, the costs of TA have tripled in three years, and are forecast to rise further still. Almost £4m of our core budget of £14m is now being spent on TA. These numbers are unsustainable. We are not alone. Without urgent extra funding, scores of LAs will be unable to present balanced budgets and will be forced to submit Section 114 statements.
We’ve been doing our bit. Our housing team works hard to maintain tenancies; to use discretionary housing payment to keep families in their homes; to incentivise landlords to remain in the market; and to prevent homelessness before it happens.
We have built social housing in each of the past five years, delivering high-quality homes on brownfield sites for families on our waiting lists. But our range of options is now exhausted.
The government must wake up to this. Led by Eastbourne, a cross-party group of 119 LAs recently asked the chancellor to uprate local housing allowance reclaim rates; commit to increase funding for discretionary housing payment and homeless prevention funds; and conduct a full review of the policy environment that is driving private landlords from the sector and forcing rents ever higher, while disincentivising the building of social homes by LAs and registered providers.
These 119 LAs have spoken with one voice. The chancellor must act unless he wants the chaos of multiple S114 declarations on his hands.
Councillor Peter Diplock, cabinet member for housing and planning, Eastbourne Borough Council
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