A leading councillor has underlined the pressure that the cost of temporary housing has put on Brighton and Hove City Council’s budget in recent years.
And Labour councillor Jacob Taylor told members of the council’s People and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committees that council tax payers’ money should not be going into the pockets of private landlords.
The number of households in temporary accommodation reached a five-year high of 2,170 in November and December.
The council had budgeted £8 million for temporary and emergency housing in the current financial year but the bill had soared to £20 million.
And nearly 50 homeless households a week were assessed as being “owed a duty” to be housed by the council over the past year.
During the meeting at Hove Town Hall on Thursday (19 February), Councillor Taylor said that the more than doubling of the cost of temporary housing was “exceptional”.
He said that it was one of the reasons why the council had asked to borrow £15 million from the government in “exceptional financial support”.
But nothing would be resolved in the long term without fixing what Councillor Taylor called “the underlying issue”.
The Labour deputy leader said: “We should not have any homeless households in the city or the country.
“We’re a rich, advanced economy. We shouldn’t have people living in temporary accommodation. They should be in settled accommodation.”
This might be a home of their own, if they could afford to buy one, or a privately rented flat or house – or public housing such as a council flat.
He said: “What we can’t keep doing is just chucking the revenue budget at the issue because that £20 million pressure is not funding for families.
“Every single penny of it is going to private landlords because that’s how temporary accommodation is provided – and we don’t have enough in-house.
“Our overall approach is trying to fix the issue. We announced last year a plan to rapidly buy as many properties as possible to bring them in-house because, when the properties are in-house, it doesn’t cost us on the revenue budget.
“So that £15 million we are seeking from the government, which we hope to get confirmed soon, is to help facilitate and support that and fix the underlying issues.”
The draft budget also capital spending plans of £112 million to buy or build new homes.
The annual budget council meeting is due to take place at Hove Town Hall from 4.30pm on Thursday (26 February). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.