Bournemouth Council is launching a new company to enable it to buy homes and rent them out to homeless people.

The private sector landlord company is expected to be up and running over the next few weeks with the first properties bought towards the end of the summer.

By creating a portfolio of homes over the next three years, the council said it would be better placed to meet its statutory homeless duty. It is also planning to purchase properties directly and use a private sector leasing housing benefit model to offer them to homeless households using a range of tenancies and rents.

Plans for the company were approved on Monday.

Councillor Robert Lawton, cabinet member for housing, said: 'Like many other councils, we are under increased pressure with reduced funding from government to meet our homeless duty to support vulnerable people in Bournemouth who find themselves without a home.

'The council must look at more innovative options in order to continue to meet this duty, and by setting up a private sector landlord company and buying additional properties this enables the council to, in effect, operate as a private landlord and rent directly to homeless people.

'By operating in this way, this would help us to reduce costs, for example, avoiding the use of expensive emergency accommodation.

‘By owning the properties it would also mean that the council would be able to manage and ensure the properties are good quality and well managed and in the longer-term any income generated could be reinvested back to the council.'