Stopping wasteful temporary accommodation expenditure
With English Local Authorities now reported as spending £1.7Bn /annum (up from £1.6Bn in 2021) on temporary accommodation and over 1.1m people still on housing waiting list, a reduction of 6,635 Social Rent homes since 2022 to-date is against the grain!
It says a lot about a lack of concerted effort to tackle the housing crisis. The opportunity cost of this is c5,600 Social Rent dwellings that could be built annually and which can generate c£28.6M/annum rental income receipts for LAs (even assuming an average of £98.20 average weekly rent, across England).
An annual income of £28.6M; progressive reduction in homelessness & the significant social benefits this brings; the capital assets to be owned by LAs compared with the wasteful recurrent spend on temporary accommodation - in B&B’s; private accommodation rental etc; will be a much better position to be in.
Our increasing cost of providing temporary accommodation is wasteful.
More Social housing is needed, not less!
Extract from Regulator of Social Housing 24/10/2023 publication on Registered provider social housing in England - stock and rents 2022-2023
We support Local Authorities with strategic and delivery advice on addressing the waste and models for scaling up their provision of Social Rent and affordable rent dwellings, sweating their assets optimally and applying an appropriate funding model.
Contact:
’Kunle Awofeso, Director/Partner, Airey Miller
