Councils call for cash to cover homeless bill shortfall

The LGA, external says the increasing number of people needing to be housed in temporary accommodation, combined with the rise in costs per person, has resulted in a funding gap of £737.3m over the last five years.

“You’ve seen the dramatic increase in the cost of rents since 2011,” Adam Hug, the LGA’s housing spokesperson, told the BBC.

“So it’s getting increasingly expensive in a constrained market to find places that are suitable for people to live at costs that councils can afford.”

That lack of available accommodation options has meant many councils have had to use more expensive options, such as hotels and bed and breakfasts, to house those in need.

Official government data released last week showed, external a record 123,100 households were in temporary accommodation at the end of June, a 16% rise on last year.

Matt Downie, chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis, told the BBC: “As more and more people are pushed into homelessness due to rising living costs and sky-high rents, they have nowhere else to go but to their local council, who too often have nowhere to put them but into expensive temporary accommodation that is often unfit for their needs.”

If someone meets the conditions for receiving temporary accommodation, it is often up to their local council to find them somewhere to stay.

The council is then usually reimbursed by the Department for Work and Pensions, using the individual’s benefits.

Historically, the amount a council could claim back was capped at 90% of Local Housing Allowance, external, which is used to work out how much in benefits people are entitled to.

But the coalition government froze that cap based on 2011 rates and no government has since unfrozen it.

“[Then-Chancellor] George Osborne and his gang decided to pass the buck to local authorities, and try and bear down on the benefits bill at the cost of many other things,” said Hug, who is also the Labour leader of Westminster City Council.