Department to invest extra £152m as homelessness tops 100,000

The government is to pump an extra £152m into homelessness projects and work on new ways to get more people out of temporary homes into permanent housing.

The moves follow figures published on Monday that showed a record number of households in temporary accommodation. The figure of 100,000 households is more than double what it was when Labour took power in 1997 (“Rise and rise”, left).

Projects fighting the causes of homelessness such as drug rehabilitation and mediation will receive £60m. But the lion’s share, £92m, will be spent on improving the condition of hostels and the support services they provide.

The ODPM will also launch a research project to look at the support needs of 2000 people in temporary accommodation.

And the department is talking to councils and housing associations in an attempt to learn from the ways they create permanent accommodation.

Officials met Newham council last week to discuss its model (see “Success stories”, below). An ODPM spokeswoman said: “When we have good accommodation used on a temporary basis, what do we have to do to get that into permanent accommodation?

“We are discussing, with people like Newham council, initiatives that would help us do just that.”

There are no plans to rethink the official definition of homelessness so that people in good-quality temporary accommodation are classed separately, however.

This is despite an indication from deputy prime minister John Prescott last month that he would look again at the definition (HT 26 November, page 7).

Prescott also said it was important to differentiate between the 82% of families classed as in temporary accommodation but who live in self-contained homes, and those using shared facilities.

“[The former] are no different to anyone else paying rent,” he said.

There are also no plans for a target to reduce numbers of people in temporary housing.

But Prescott has pledged to act on council targets for keeping families out of B&Bs after figures showed 1370 families had been in B&B for more than six weeks.

Success stories: the odpm’s models

ODPM officials are talking to housing providers about how they provide long-term homes rather than using conventional temporary housing schemes where councils lease homes from private landlords. Last week it met Newham council to hear about the Local Space project, which involves the authority transferring about 450 homes to the scheme. The project also borrows from banks to buy homes and rents them at market rates. It will also hear how London & Quadrant has bought homes on the open market with ODPM grant and leased them to local authorities for homeless families. Under both projects, the homes eventually become affordable housing.

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Housing Today