Liverpool City Council is looking to spend £19m on private rental accommodation to get homeless families out of B&Bs and hotels. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool City Council is turning to the private rented sector in a £19m plan to alleviate its homelessness crisis.
Since 2019 the cost to the city of housing people in temporary accommodation has soared from £250,000 to a projected £25m by the end of this financial year. Almost 1,000 families are currently in temporary accommodation – 558 of which are in B&Bs or hotels.
Liverpool has seen a spike in homelessness numbers due to a rise in Section 21 eviction notices, fueled by rent rises caused by an increase in mortgage interest rates.
A report to the council’s Cabinet is to be considered next Wednesday, February 1, recommending the authority begins a procurement exercise for the provision of 400 private sector properties for a period of up to five years.
If approved, the proposed contract would start on June 1, 2024, with an estimated cost of £19m until 2029 – a net saving of £121m if current trends continue.
A key aim of the plan is to enable families to move out of B&Bs and hotels into more suitable and sustainable accommodation. There are currently 62 families who have been housed in B&Bs/hotels for more than six months.
Cllr Sarah Doyle, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “The homelessness situation in Liverpool is at crisis point. Due to unprecedented external factors, the cost of housing people in temporary accommodation has become unsustainable.
“A 10,000% rise in five years is a frightening number and is creating phenomenal pressure on our overall Council budget.
“This is a nationwide problem, as we saw at Westminster this week, and we need Government to take action on a number of levels, not least on revoking Section 21 notices and increasing local housing allowance rates and regulating rents.”
Liverpool’s situation has also been compounded by the number of people who are being granted the right to remain in the city.
A total of 390 individuals in this situation have presented themselves as homeless to the council in the past three months, due to changes in the Home Office’s asylum assessment process.
The Council Leader, Cllr Liam Robinson, and Cabinet member for Housing, Cllr Sarah Doyle wrote to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, MP, last year outlining the scale of the issue and the need for Government support.
“This temporary accommodation plan coming to Cabinet is a good step forward in mitigating the rise in the costs we are having to endure,” added Cllr Doyle.
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“It will crucially also provide people and families with a more homely and sustainable setting. I fear what impact the current situation is having on the mental health of those affected, not least the children.
“However, we must be clear that this is a means to manage the current crisis. We urge Government to invest in the provision of social rented homes. We want to see more families living in secure and affordable permanent accommodation.”