Council plans to buy homelessness shelter from housing association

The building provides 13 bed spaces; it is made up of four one-bedroomed flats and three three-bedroomed flats.

“The property layout is such that, unlike many other buildings in the pathway, it has much-needed level-access accommodation for homeless people with mobility issues,” according to the report.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council said that due to the rising number of people sleeping rough in the borough and across London, as well as a shortage of available buildings that are suitable, “there is no capacity to accommodate a potential loss of 13 bed spaces elsewhere within the pathway, nor is there an appropriate alternative site to which the existing service could be relocated”.

“There is also little appetite among provider partners to acquire the property,” the report said. 

Home Group is under no obligation to sell to the council, but said it was happy with the authority’s plans.

According to the report, the council’s director of housing wrote to Home Group in May, highlighting the impact of divestment to the sector and that the council requested to have first refusal to acquire the property. 

Hannah Howard-Jones, director of asset at Home Group, told Inside Housing that the landlord has worked closely with the council to “ensure that the impact on those residents in the property were kept to a bare minimum if possible”. 

“Therefore, we are delighted to see that the council has applied to purchase the property and potentially safeguard the future of those residents,” she said. 

Explaining the decision to sell, Ms Howard-Jones said: “As a not-for profit organisation, we must always ensure that the properties we own or manage bring us the greatest possible return in order for us to reinvest where our customers need it most. 

“Our property on Lillie Road was no longer supporting our overall strategy and early last year, after careful consideration, our board agreed that the only option we had was to sell it on.”

Hammersmith and Fulham Council has been contacted for comment.

Earlier this week, the government announced it had allocated an extra £17m to help councils house rough sleepers.