Brighton and Hove City Council is to invest £50m to deliver more social and affordable housing.
According to deputy council leader Cllr Jacob Taylor, the local authority intends to purchase properties ‘rapidly’ from private landlords to help resolve issues relating to homelessness and housing.
The investment will see 200 new homes secured across the following two years.
Cllr Taylor told The Guardian: ‘The housing crisis is so bad in Brighton – we have near-London house prices but don’t have London wages’.
He added: ‘It’s actually been getting worse in the last year, not better.
‘You can’t underestimate the impact it’s having on people. As yet, I haven’t got enough homes versus the demand. But I am not going to put up with this disaster. I am determined to dramatically reduce the problem.’
With the council predicted to exceed its budget by £3.8m this year due to temporary accommodation spending, Cllr Taylor has emphasised the council’s goal to ‘accelerate the increase in stock of social housing’, while decreasing the ‘extreme costs of booking temporary accommodation with private landlords, which is pushing [it] to bankruptcy’.
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