Essex homeless charity says government plans to cut prevention funding are "ludicrous"
Tendring will lose 26% of its prevention funding, analysis reveals
Districts experiencing some of the worst homelessness pressures are set to lose millions in prevention funding under Government plans, analysis suggests.
Areas in England including Tendring in Essex face substantial cuts to the homelessness prevention grant under a proposal to change the way allocations are distributed.
Tendring is expected to lose 26% of its funding, or £377,619.
Emma Hughes, CEO of homeless charity Sanctus, says this is going to have a "huge" impact.
"Tendring has many areas of poverty, homelessness, and temporary accomodation.
"Slashing funding is just ludicrous and will most likely rise in people struggling with their mental health. It will also put an unnecessary strain on charities who already do the job of central government and struggle to stay afloat."
"These significant government cuts comes at a time when funding should be increased due to the huge rises in those becoming homeless, and those requiring temporary accommodation."
A new formula, which is currently subject to consultation, fails to account for the reality of local housing market conditions and factors driving homelessness such as household sizes, social housing levels and affordability of properties for private rent, according to critics.
The analysis shows London boroughs will receive an average increase of 10% in their annual prevention grant, while many outside cities with high costs of living face substantial cuts - despite experiencing some of the steepest rises in homelessness.
For example, the demand for temporary accommodation in the south coast town of Hastings has soared from 37 households in 2016 to 567 today, with council spending on the issue rising annually from £730,000 to £6.5 million in five years.
In this time, the DCN says there's been a 70% increase in households with children needing emergency housing.
Waiting lists for social housing have also swelled to 303,000 households, with some areas seeing increases of more than 50% since 2020.
Data shows requests for homelessness support in district areas remains high, as 21% more households are now seeking council help to avoid homelessness than in September 2021.
Hannah Dalton, a spokesperson for the DCN on housing, said the forthcoming cut to prevention grants "defies logic" at a time of severe pressures.
She added: "Much of the recent growth in homelessness has been felt hardest outside of the biggest cities, including rural communities, market and coastal towns, university cities and places where London boroughs have relocated many of their own homeless people, yet the Government's funding plans will see such places lose out."
Ms Dalton described the funding as "a lifeline" that prevents people from losing their homes through measures such as emergency support to cover rent arrears and help with deposits.
She added: "Without proper funding, councils will be forced to make impossible choices about which desperate households they can help.
"Behind the data lies real human misery - children facing disrupted education, families living in squalor and workers having to leave jobs because they can no longer afford the commute. Let's work together to ensure the funding system offers fairness to people in all places."
There were an estimated 4,667 people sleeping on the streets on a single night in autumn last year, according to annual Government statistics.
This was an increase of 769 people - or 20% - on the previous year's snapshot estimate of 3,898.
The proposed prevention grant formula is expected to be most damaging for councils that have to use private temporary accommodation, with costs far exceeding housing benefit rates.
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "This Government is taking urgent and decisive action to end homelessness for good, and we are consulting on the homelessness prevention grant to ensure funding is distributed fairly and in line with demand.
"Alongside this we are providing £1 billion in additional support for homelessness services and tackling the root causes of homelessness by abolishing Section 21 no fault evictions and as part of our Plan for Change, building 1.5 million new homes, including the biggest increase in social and affordable housing for a generation."
Here are the details of the district councils said to be worst affected by the change in the way homelessness prevention grants are calculated. The list reads from left to right with the name of the council, the amount of grant they are expected to lose and the percentage loss:
Tendring -£377,619 -26%
Huntingdonshire -£519,790 -39%
Exeter -£542,135 -38%
Gloucester - £563,888 -37%
Oxford -£776,708 -36%
Broxbourne -£474,329 -36%
Hastings -£754,114 -34%
Arun -£546,289 -33%
Mid Sussex -£298,365 -31%
Welwyn Hatfield -£380,332 -27%