I recently reported on the financial crisis facing Brent Council due to the rising number of homeless in the borough and the spiralling cost of temporary accommodation. I have just received notice of this meeting which Brent councillors may be interested in attending.
Over 100 councils will attend an emergency summit taking place on Tuesday 31 October to discuss the escalating social and financial crisis created by the unprecedented demand for temporary accommodation.
Hosted by Eastbourne Borough Council and the District Councils’ Network, this summit aims to share insight from the councils attending and will result in a joint cross-party letter to the government ahead of the Autumn Statement urging immediate action.
Councillor Stephen Holt, Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, said:
The situation is stark.
Councils provide a safety net for the most vulnerable people who need our help, and that safety net is at real risk of failing.
Figures from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have shown that the cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities reached 1.7bn last year and is increasing rapidly. This is wholly unsustainable for councils, and the situation is now critical.
The summit will explore solutions from the government, including:
- Increase Local Housing Allowance rates for private rented accommodation
- Develop policy to stimulate retention and supply in the privately rented sector
- Review the housing benefit subsidy rate for local authority homelessness placements
- Give district councils the powers, funding, and resources needed to increase the supply of social housing
- Increase the level of Discretionary Housing Payment and Homelessness Prevention Grant
The Minister for Local Government, Lee Rowley, has been invited to attend the summit.
Councillor Hannah Dalton, the District Councils’ Network spokesperson for health, housing and hardship, said:
Across the country, we are experiencing a spiralling tide of need, driven by a severe shortage of social housing, the cost of living crisis, and an unstable and unaffordable private rented sector. This means as district councils, we are placing an unprecedented number of people in temporary accommodation, which is cripplingly expensive for councils and unsuitable for residents.
Districts are vital to preventing homelessness and providing resolution when our residents are faced with no alternative. Without urgent intervention, the very existence of this safety net is under threat.
We are therefore calling on the government to act now and urgently adopt our five asks ahead of the Autumn Statement. While these alone will not end homelessness, they will go a long way in reducing the number of families in temporary accommodation and the series of challenges that come with this.
The summit will take place remotely on Tuesday 31st October from 9.30am to 11am.
Any council leaders, housing portfolio holders or senior council officers wishing to attend the summit should email laura.walsh@lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk.
If Brent were to do an audit of every case where they are paying Housing Benefit for Temporary Accommodation they would identify at least 15% where the system is being abused, and thriving unchecked.
ReplyDeletei.e:
The family is no longer resident in the country, let alone the Borough, sub-letting the property, whilst still claiming Benefits, allowing them to make a profit.
Landlords who are fully aware of the issues, but don't report because they are still getting the rent paid in full, so don't care.
Council tenants who are living in 3/4 Bedroom homes, whose children have grown and flown the nest, and are now renting out rooms making triple the amount of the rent they are being charged as there is no incentive to downsize.
Single people who sub-let as they live with their partners in another property in the same or another borough.
The same applies to Housing Associations.
FACT: When they demolished Stonebridge Estate and sought to re-house the tenants. They found that 30% were being sub-let and could not find the original tenants they had tenant agreements with. Many of these did not qualify or were not entitled to be housed by the Council.
The list is endless.
Poor, poor Bent, and all self inflicted in their race to the bottom. Not to worry, foreign investors are making a fortune out of us.
ReplyDeleteThere are loads of empty new properties in Wembley Park Towers and Beresford Avenue.
ReplyDeleteAnd loads of Brent Councillors are landlords making a fortune out of tenants.
The trouble with all the empty flats in Wembley Park and "Grand Union" is that Brent families in housing need can't afford the rents for them, and Brent Council can't afford them either, as homes to offer at genuinely affordable rent levels to local familues in housing need.
DeleteIn the race to be the London Borough where the most new homes are being built, the people who actually need the homes in Brent are the losers.
Why grant planning permission for student accommodation when we can’t house those on the local housing waiting list?
ReplyDeleteWe don’t have major colleges or universities in Brent so why do we need so much student accommodation here?
Some very good points above and shows how pathetically Bent Council is being run by the current administration and how its current residents are suffering because of it. We need affordable housing, preferably at Social rents, not thousands upon thousands of student rooms, Airbnb lets, workday residences, unoccupied investment properties etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe next waste of space in Bent will be the unaffordable workspaces in the new developments at double and treble the rents of the business premises that were demolished to build these high profit margin buildings. What a financing bubble is being created in Bent and everyone in Bent will hear the crash and suffer the consequences in the coming years.
Echoing the thoughts of Philip Grant, a lot of the people now living in Wembley Park, are also finding these flats unaffordable and are desperate to move, terrible Wifi, repairs taking forever to fix. Hate the neighbourhood now Wembley Stadium Events are back to full capacity. Deliveries have become a nightmare on Event Days with statutory roadblocks and buses diverted.
ReplyDeleteWho know's in a few years they will all be converted to Social Housing and look like the projects of Chicago and East LA.
And haven't we all been saying this for years and years and yet Brent Council won't listen!
DeleteAt least history will show who gave planning permission for all these developments despite residents objections - who is to blame for this mess@
Stop letting people buying second homes.
ReplyDeleteIf they already own a second home or multiple properties charge full council tax if empty or offer incentives if they rent to long term tenants.
Anyone already renting holiday lets or Air B&B accomodation should pay more council tax.
Increase council tax on massive properties.
Increase council tax as soon as a property has been extended or extensively improved - currently you can double the size of your property but the council tax band is only increased the next time the property is sold - completely unfair!
Many good reasons why Brent should take part in this summit.
ReplyDeleteOne reason why they won't - Eastbourne is a LibDem Council!
Why would they avoid because Eastbourne is a Liberal council?
ReplyDeleteSurely they have training to liaise and debate with everyone.