Temporary accommodation could become permanent for homeless households

Liverpool City Council is set to agree a new approach to homelessness which mean households in temporary accommodation have the chance to stay in the property permanently.

Following a successful procurement exercise, the council’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 17 March is being asked to award five contracts for temporary accommodation and permanent homes across the city.

It will mean the council will have access to a commissioned supply 1,500 units of affordable and suitable temporary accommodation from the private rented sector, with suppliers also committing to provide a percentage of permanent homes across the duration of the contracts.

The move-on private rented sector accommodation may, depending on individual circumstances, be the same property as the temporary accommodation within which the service user was living, depending upon the individual household’s needs and the accommodation that the supplier has available at that time. This approach aims to reduce the impact on homeless families who often settle in temporary accommodation.

It is the latest in a raft of measures taken to tackle homelessness, with around 1,600 households currently in interim or temporary accommodation across the city.

The council has been increasing the amount of self-contained accommodation to reduce its reliance on hotels, and taking action to cut the bill. There are now 1,330 units of self-contained accommodation in the city and the nightly rate is now typically £57, down from £83 previously.

This has led to a reduction in the use of hotels, down to 277 rooms – the council aims to ensure that families do not spend more than six weeks in there before being moved to other accommodation. This is significant progress from around a year ago when there were 83 households in B&B for more than six weeks.

The delivery of 1,500 units of interim, temporary and permanent accommodation over the next 18 months will drastically reduce demand for the ‘spot purchased nightly rate’ accommodation.

Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Hetty Wood, said: “A home is a basic human right and we know how disruptive it is for individuals and families to move from place to place in a relatively short space of time, particularly if they have children in school.

“The new contracts will give people the opportunity to make the temporary accommodation their permanent home, in circumstances where that is suitable.

“It is just one a range of measures we are introducing to tackle homelessness, including make sure we have enough units of accommodation, drastically reducing our reliance on hotel accommodation and bringing empty homes back into use for people who are on the housing waiting list.

“We have also negotiated reductions with landlords in the rates paid, to make sure that council taxpayers get value-for-money.

“We are also working with Government agencies, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and social landlords to deliver affordable rent and rent-to-buy properties.”

Other measures to deal with the homelessness crisis include:

• Creation of an on-site support service for up to 49 single households requiring low to medium levels of support
• £7.3 million of grants available to private sector landlords to encourage them to bring 365 properties back into use which are then let to people on the housing waiting list