Last week, (12 March, page 11) I was quoted as saying “Temporary leased accommodation isn’t much better than B&B”. This was taken out of context: I believe the leased accommodation provided by Newham and other councils is infinitely better than B&Bs.

Where the two are comparable is that both require public subsidy through benefit and do not offer certainty for the future. Newham’s Local Space initiative will provide that certainty.

Newham is pursuing this initiative because existing RSLs have failed to respond to the government’s laudable target on reducing B&B dependency for families – a target that Newham and many other boroughs have been successful in meeting, with no thanks to our RSL colleagues.

Source

Housing Today

Postscript

Chris Wood, director of housing and customer services, London Borough of Newham