London accounts for over half of all homeless households in England with boroughs collectively spending £5.5m every day on homelessness.
The chronic shortage of affordable housing in the capital is driving up homelessness but also the costs incurred by boroughs when securing temporary accommodation.
London Councils found the average cost of temporary accommodation in London has risen by 75% over the last five years, compared to a 23% increase in market rents over the same period.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is targeting an end to rough sleeping by 2030 and has previously told Big Issue he doesn’t expect to see street homelessness numbers in London start to fall until 2026.
Khan recently announced a new £3.5 million fund to test new approaches to preventing homelessness in London in a bid to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation.
A further £1m fund has been set up to deliver ‘floating hubs’in 17 homelessness hotspot areas around London, providing targeted interventions to support people experiencing homelessness long-term.
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London boroughs will also see an uplift in homelessness prevention grant funding as well as £11.7bn of investment in housebuilding through the Labour government’s social and affordable homes programme.
But London Councils have pleaded for more support to deal with the current temporary accommodation bill.
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It has urged the Labour government to unfreeze the subsidy councils receive through the welfare system for temporary accommodation, which is stuck at 2011 levels.
Councillors have also called for local housing allowance (LHA) rates, which determine the level of housing benefit low-income renters receive, to be raised to cover the bottom 30% of private rented homes.
The government revealed its homelessness strategy last week and the lack of commitment on LHA was cited as a major gap by frontline homelessness charities.
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The £3.5bn strategy aims to halve the number of people sleeping rough across England by 2029, end the unlawful use of bed and breakfast accommodation and boost measures to prevent homelessness.
Councillor Williams said: “Boroughs are working hard to support homeless Londoners as best we can, but we need more action at a national level too. We welcome the government’s new homelessness strategy and its focus on a cross-departmental approach to tackling this crisis. It is vital this delivers the policy changes and resources we need to turn the tide on homelessness in the years ahead.”
London Councils’ warning comes just days after Shelter revealed 382,618 people in England will be homeless this Christmas.
A total of 350,490 people are living in temporary accommodation, including 175,025 children.
“It’s unthinkable that as winter sets in, more than 382,000 people are without a safe place to call home,” said Sarah Elliott, chief executive at Shelter.
“We urge the government to help the families who are homeless right now by ending the freeze on housing benefit. This would immediately lift thousands of children out of temporary accommodation and into a home.”
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