Councils spent £1.6bn on temporary accommodation for homeless households between April 2021 and March 2022, new figures reveal.
The Government yesterday released new figures on the amount being spent by local councils on temporary accommodation for homeless households in England in 2021/22.
The data show that spending increased by 4% in a year and 61% in the last five years, and one quarter of the total – £407m – was spent on emergency B&Bs and hostels. Spending on B&Bs alone has increased by 20% in the last five years.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter said: ‘Homelessness is bad for the economy and it’s even worse for the people whose lives it destroys. It defies all logic to shell out over £1.6 bn on grim B&B’s and grotty flats, instead of helping people to keep hold of their home in the first place.
‘Housing benefit should stop people on low incomes becoming homeless, but it’s been frozen since 2020 despite private rents rocketing.?This gaping hole in our country’s safety net is throwing families needlessly into homelessness and trapping them in awful temporary accommodation because they can’t afford private rentals and there are barely any social homes.
‘Allowing homelessness to rise unchecked during the cost of living crisis, will only cost more in the long run. The government must unfreeze housing benefit now so people can pay their rent. And to end homelessness altogether it needs to build decent, truly affordable social homes.’
