Select committee warns of overreliance on temporary accommodation amid unsustainable pressure on council finances
The influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned of an overreliance on the use of temporary accommodation, “due in part to a dwindling and increasingly costly housing stock”.
In a report. Tackling homelessness, the committee found that record homelessness levels were placing local authorities' finances under “unsustainable pressure”.
The report said that of the estimated £2.1bn spent by local authorities in 2023-24 on temporary accommodation, a large proportion was used to provide immediate support, “rather than the preventative measures so desperately needed”.
The committee has called for a clear strategy and stronger support for local authorities. The report noted that despite there being an overarching homelessness strategy for each of the devolved nations, England does not have one.
The MPs said such a strategy should clearly outline how preventative measures will be incentivised.
The report also argued for an exemption from requirements on local connections or residency for all veterans, care leavers under 25 years, and victims of domestic abuse, as well as for competition between local authorities and the Home Office for temporary accommodation to be eliminated.
The committee meanwhile raised “deep concerns” around the number of families being housed outside their local area, which has risen to 39,000, and expressed alarm at the fact that 6,000 homeless families with children live in B&Bs, due to a lack of alternative accommodation.
The PAC called on the government to encourage better coordination between local authorities and set out how it will support them to reduce the use of B&Bs.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “My Committee is deeply concerned by the number of people currently being housed in sub-standard, overpriced and at times, wholly inappropriate accommodation, sometimes a long way from their previous home. A lack of affordable housing, a focus on short-term solutions and no clear strategy to tackle this issue have left us with thousands of families in deeply troubling circumstances. Worryingly there seems to be no desire to move away from an unsatisfactory short-term system, leaving local authorities attempting to save a sinking ship with a little more than a leaky bucket.
“Local authorities find themselves at breaking point as they haemorrhage funds to cover the rising costs of housing families in temporary accommodation. We are calling for an overarching strategy that addresses the need for better connectivity across Government departments to tackle the root causes of this crisis. Without one, we fear this will remain an issue into which money is simply poured, without effectively tackling the blight of homelessness. Government must learn from the lessons of the past to inform what they will do in the future."
Responding to the PAC report, Cllr Adam Hug, Housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: “Homelessness is one of the biggest and most urgent pressures facing local government. As this report highlights, as more and more people turn to their council for support and councils have little choice but to resort to costly temporary accommodation, local authorities are spending less on funding homelessness prevention.
“The temporary accommodation subsidy, currently stuck at 2011 levels, needs to be urgently addressed in the Spending Review as this is driving ever higher-spend on temporary accommodation and limiting the resources available for homelessness prevention.”
He added: “Continuing to up-rate Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents beyond 2025/26, will also help to ensure there is a sufficient supply of affordable properties available to those entitled to full support with their housing costs - this is crucial to helping households to find and sustain tenancies in the private rented sector and prevent homelessness.
“There also needs to be a genuine cross-departmental approach to tackling this crisis, as part of a long-term government strategy, with councils given the powers and resources needed to address the national shortage of affordable housing.”
Harry Rodd
