Council spending on accommodation for homeless families is now EIGHT TIMES more than 10 years ago

Do you remember the Tory housing revolution back in the 1980s? I do.

Margaret Thatcher told us she wanted the UK to be a “nation of home-owners”, and I’m sure she also told us it would be cheaper on the nation as councils would no longer have to build and maintain social housing.

Nearly 40 years on, what has happened?

The UK is a nation in thrall to private landlords whose prices are unaffordable to most people – especially after more than nine years of Tory wage depression and benefit cuts.

Result: Councils spent nearly £100 million providing bed-and-breakfast accommodation for homeless households (it is their statutory duty).

That money could have been spent on council services instead. Next time you get angry at your council for failing to provide, put the blame on Mrs Thatcher!

Provision of social housing has always been the cheapest option for dealing with poverty and homelessness.

It cuts crime – both by and against people who don’t have homes, meaning our police forces are less stretched.

It cuts strain on the health service – there is less violent crime against the homeless, and there is less likelihood of homeless people falling prey to disease.

And it provides income to local authorities that otherwise have to pay out increasing amounts to private landlords to put a metaphorical sticking-plaster over this wound on our society.

The Tory government response to this crisis (see below) is derisory; it wants councils to put themselves in debt in order to provide new housing, meaning they’ll be starved of even more cash.

There’s only one way to end the housing crisis – and that is regime change.

We need a radical change of government.

And we’ll get it soon, if enough people see past the anti-Corbyn propaganda and vote Labour.

Remember: Jeremy Corbyn is the only leader who said his ambition is “a home for everyone”.

Spending by councils on housing families in bed and breakfast accommodation has surged by 780 per cent in a decade, prompting renewed calls for urgent action to mitigate the housing crisis.

An analysis of official data by the Local Government Association (LGA) revealed cash-strapped local authorities had to spend £93.3m on B&Bs for homeless households last year, up from £10.6m in 2009-10.

Campaigners said families were “paying the ultimate price” for successive governments’ failure to build social homes, and urged ministers to adapt welfare reforms to protect families at risk of becoming homeless.

Councils only use bed and breakfasts as a last resort, but the continued loss of social housing was leaving many with no alternative in which to house homeless families, the LGA said.

There are currently 7,040 households in bed and breakfast accommodation – up from 2,450 a decade ago, an increase of 187 per cent.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Everyone should have somewhere safe to live and to support those most in need we have removed the borrowing cap, freeing up councils to double housing delivery to around 10,000 new social homes a year by 2021/22.

“We’ve also targeted funding to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation and in two years we’ve helped councils to reduce the number of families in B&Bs for more than six weeks by 28 per cent.”

Source: Council spending on B&Bs for homeless families up 780% in a decade, figures show | The Independent

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No Comments

  1. Dave Rowlands October 12, 2019 at 12:16 pm - Reply

    It’s not just Thatcher, it’s the conservative methodology, they hate the less well off yet they create them by their policies, they hate the working class but need them to keep them in the lifestyle they have, narcissistic self destruction which will be blamed on everyone else when they finally become a non entity. It can’t happen soon enough.

  2. hugosmum70 October 12, 2019 at 4:49 pm - Reply

    i know a young woman who was pregnant. someone gave her a room in her house. a registered landlord (so i was told.) but who lived in same house While this young lass of 23 was in hospital, 2 days after having her baby, she was sent a letter giving her 2 weeks notice from when she came out of hospital. the staff were really good and kept her in longer than usual after a birth to give her a bit more time to recover from the birth. when she did go home she tried to find somewhere,unsuccessfully. private landlords do not want new mothers and their newborn babies in their homes, especially single ones. the local council put her in a hotel for a month. she had no facilities for boiling water for the babies bottles. or making /heating a meal for herself. wasnt allowed any visitors not even her mum, dad or gran.eventually gave her a house on other side of town from her family , cost a fortune in busfares. she couldnt afford to go see them nor them go to see her. was too far by taxi and at least 2 of her family couldnt use buses/ that was a temporary house though. shes now living a mile from her gran, and 2-3 miles from her dad and aunt. her mum does live down south so only sees her at special occasions. … someone else i knew(deceased now) had leg amputation. was found he couldnt get into his old home in his wheelchair so after 13 weeks in hospital, he was first put in respite care, after 7 weeks the matron of the duaL RESPITE/RESIDENTIAL HOME, DECIDED HE AND ANOTHER AMPUTEE WERE HOMELESS AND CONTACTED THE RELEVENT BODIES. HE WAS PUT IN THAT SAME HOTEL ..he WAS allowed visitors but only his long term partner , his nurses etc. but no fascilities for getting soiled dressings removed, he could not get in the bathroom to have a good wash. had to lean forward in his wheelchair from the bathroom door from where he could just reach the sink taps, social services provided him with a microwave, small fridge and kettle. (the hotel had expected him to pay for full meals (£300 a week) knowing that because he had been in hospital and respite 20 weeks he had lost his DLA and income support. his partner of 19 years ,also disabled, had to struggle to buy him microwaveable meals(this is a bad diabetic on insulin that had to stay in that hotel again all over xmas, ) and get them and other things he needed to him, daily. costing her a fortune in bus/taxi fares…they then put him into a flat kept for this purpose for the next year. all this time while supposedly the local authority was tryin to find another house for him and his partner. finally got one, a new build which still had to be built but which had design details changed to accomodate him…… a dormer bungalow. with a massive lounge, tiny ground floor bedroom for him and an upstairs one for his disabled partner who at first was denied a stair lift. she got one finally just before he died last october. they had been in that house only 5 years by then. sorry this is so long, but im not sure that some people know or even think what its like when they are put in hotels etc.
    i am sure these 2 werent/arent the only ones who find themselves in this situation .

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