Hundreds of Cornish households in emergency accommodation amid housing crisis
The council says many are having to stay for longer, because of a lack of homes
The number of households in emergency accommodation in Cornwall after being made homeless remains high with Cornwall Council struggling to move them into more permanent homes.
Around 650 households are currently in temporary accommodation after a spike in the number of people being made homeless in Cornwall due to the current housing crisis.
Many were previously in private rented accommodation which they have lost after landlords have decided to sell up or convert their properties into holiday accommodation following the boom in staycations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic there were around 250 households in temporary accommodation but that has risen to as high as 700.
On Tuesday Cornwall councillors heard that people in emergency accommodation, including B&Bs and hotels, are having to stay there for longer as there is a lack of homes for them to move into. As a result, the council is currently overspending on its housing budget, currently by around £7.5million.
"Nobody wants to see families in B&Bs"
Phil Mason, strategic director for sustainable growth and development, told a meeting of the economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee that it was a key budget pressure for his department and the council as a whole.
He said: "Since late 2020 the number of people needing new accommodation has been on a slight decline, but the number of people staying in temporary accommodation remains stubbornly high as we can’t get people out into permanent accommodation".
Mr Mason said that while the council had been able to purchase some homes which could be rented out and also provided modular accommodation to move people into it had not been enough to cope with the demand. As a result, he said that families were still in "unsuitable accommodation" such as Travelodges and Premier Inns.
"Nobody wants to see families in B&Bs, Travelodges, Premier Inns. I would rather have a proper home that people can properly live in and at a level that the council can recover through housing benefits".
He explained that not only was this not ideal for people to live in for long periods of time but is also very expensive for the council as the costs are not fully covered by housing benefits and one of the main reasons why the council’s housing department is running over budget. There were some concerns that it could rise to as much as £15m.
"Structural problems" with the service
Mr Mason said the council needs to "flatten that" and that work was already underway, particularly after the council decided to transfer responsibility for homeless services from Cornwall Housing, which it owns, back to the council, along with the housing option service.
He explained that there were some "structural problems" with the service and said Cornwall Housing did not have the right level of staff or resource for the service which had led to it being unable to collect money for other charges which should be paid by people in temporary housing.
He said: "A significant amount of debt has built up and we haven't chased people or asked people even for those charges up front. After people have left that accommodation, if you ask them, they are living hand to mouth and don’t have that money, so it becomes bad debt".
Mr Mason said the council would now be asking for people to pay any charges up front and while it was still likely there could be some bad debt there was also a potential to save around £700,000 a year. #
The director also told councillors that there had been requests from some town and parish councils to change the priority of social housing so it could go to those most in need rather than those with the most local connections. He said this was something that would be considered.