Shelter blasts ‘shoddy’ temporary accommodation bill

The charity Shelter has described the £1.2bn spent last year by councils providing temporary accommodation for homeless households as ‘outrageous’.

New figures published by the government show local authorities the amount spent by local authorities on temporary accommodation has increased by 9% in the last year and 55% in the last five years.

Of the total spent on temporary accommodation by councils in England last year, 87% of it went to private landlords, letting agents or companies.

And more than a third (38%) of the money paid to private accommodation providers was spent on emergency B&Bs – £393m  – which are often considered some of the least suitable places for families with children to live.

‘It is outrageous that almost £1.2bn a year is spent on often shoddy and expensive temporary accommodation because of the lack of social homes,’ said Shelter chief executive, Polly Neate.

‘It’s a false economy for taxpayers’ money to be used to pay private landlords for grotty emergency B&Bs, which can be so terrible to live in that families end up deeply traumatised.

‘The decades of failure to build social homes means too many people on lower incomes are stuck in unstable private rentals – increasing their chances of becoming homeless,’ she added.

‘This cycle of destitution persists when those who lose their homes turn to the council for help, because councils have so little social housing left that they can’t alleviate their homelessness for good. All they can do is pay over the odds for insecure temporary accommodation,’ added Ms Neate.

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