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HOMELESSNESSCouncils need millions from the government to stave off bankruptcy – and it’s the rising cost of homelessness that’s at the heart of it
Two English councils have made an urgent plea to the UK government for millions of pounds to stave off bankruptcy, marking a milestone in the housing crisis and the battle facing local authorities to stay afloat.
Both Eastbourne and Medway councils asked ministers for exceptional financial support earlier this month and, for the first time, homelessness was the main reason.
The number of households living in temporary accommodation is at a record high in England, at more than 105,000 living in B&Bs and other emergency accommodation.
English councils are collectively spending £1.7bn a year to cover the cost and that figure is only going up at a time when years of cuts and growing demand for other services like social care are leaving local authorities struggling to balance the books.
Eastbourne Borough Council was among the first of the local authorities to sound the alarm when it hosted 100-plus councils from the District Councils Network in November last year for an emergency summit.
And at a council meeting on 7 February, Eastbourne councillors said they had asked the government for £3m for this year and next after revealing 49p from every £1 of their budget was being spent on temporary accommodation. The government rejected councillors’ plea to raise council tax by 7.99%.
Eastbourne Borough Council leader Stephen Holt said at the meeting: “We are all saying with one unified voice that, whatever your political persuasion, this situation cannot go on any longer.
“There is a national crisis that is very much threatening the safety net that councils provide.”
Eastbourne councillors estimate the authority will be spending £5m this year on B&Bs, hotels and other makeshift homes, up from £1.4m in 2018-19.
That’s leaving frontline charities feeling the strain too.
The Kingdom Way Trust provides single-room emergency accommodation in Eastbourne, chief executive Roland Brown told The Big Issue: “From the positive of Everyone In during Covid when street numbers went right down, numbers have just spiralled in the last three or six months to a year where it feels, to be honest, like we’re fighting a losing battle.
“Literally in the last two months I’ve managed to get 10 more rooms available and we’ve filled them before we’ve even got the keys to t
