City council’s spend on temporary accommodation up 7,660%

Liam Robinson, leader of the council, has written to housing secretary Michael Gove declaring an emergency and asking for financial support. 

It comes after more than 100 councils in England met a crisis summit over “crippling temporary accommodation costs”.

They called for “urgent” government intervention over the soaring costs threatening to “overwhelm” their budgets. 

Government figures revealed in October that councils spent £1.74bn on temporary accommodation between April 2022 and March this year.

The council is taking action to deal with the pressures, such as creating a B&B reduction plan, which includes reviewing and reducing housing backlog cases, revising the council’s B&B placement policy, and increasing early intervention and homelessness prevention activities. 

The council also plans to refurbish its empty housing stock, to provide additional accommodation, and establish a property acquisition programme to procure family sized accommodation, and make better use of the private rented sector (PRS) when housing people. 

However, it says its ability to meet the increasing demand is “being stretched”.

In the letter, Mr Robison and Sarah Doyle, cabinet member for housing at Liverpool Council, said: “I am writing to request additional help with the growing homelessness numbers in Liverpool. 

“There has been an unprecedented rise in homelessness numbers over the last three years, which has seen our costs rise from £250,000 to an anticipated £19m at the end of this fiscal year. 

“We currently have over 550 households in bed and breakfast accommodation and 250 of these are families with children. 

“Our level of people sleeping rough is now exacerbated as a result of the acceleration of decisions for refugees and asylum seekers by the Home Office. 

“We have been advised that over 100,000 are likely to receive decisions this side of Christmas.” 

They said the council is committed to supporting the most vulnerable the level of increasing demand “and our ability to meet this is being stretched, both financially and operationally”. 

“We have a vibrant voluntary sector and are working in partnership with Crisis and Shelter along with our local charities to support homeless high schools in this city. 

“We urgently require additional resources to help us deal with the situation which we now regard as nothing short of an emergency in the city,” they said, adding that the council’s current homelessness support grant of £1.7m “does not in any way reflect the need and growth in demand”.

They said the actions the council is taking “all require additional resources” and asked Mr Gove to increase the grant in-year “and for the next two years to enable us to deliver better outcomes on prevention and resettlement of homeless households”. 

“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss our request and explore how we can alleviate the current situation in the city and support vulnerable residents to get their lives back on track,” they said. 

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) spokesperson said: “We are determined to prevent homelessness before it occurs. 

“That is why we are providing Liverpool City Council £3.9m through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, helping those at risk of homelessness to access the private rented sector.

“Our Renters’ Reform Bill will deliver a fairer private rented sector, abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions so that all tenants have greater security in their homes and are empowered to challenge poor practice without worrying about retaliatory eviction.”

The latest government figures, published this month, revealed that no-fault eviction court proceedings had reached a seven-year high.