Newham Council has warned it may need government assistance due to the ‘spiralling’ costs of supporting homeless people.
The London borough council allocated a further £18.5m to its temporary accommodation budget this year but predicts that costs will top £40m.
It warned that temporary accommodation could end up accounting for a third of its total budget – with social care costs already making up two-thirds.
A council report says: ‘We haven’t failed in our financial management and homelessness approach; rather past government policies and the inefficacies of the housing market in London and the UK has failed us.’
The council warned it faced ‘hard choices’, and that ‘some form of government assistance may also be required’.
But Newham and cross-party group London Councils pointed out that the borough is far from being an exception, after a survey revealed the capital’s authorities collectively overspent on their homelessness budgets by £208m last year.
The research by London Councils found spending on temporary accommodation for homeless households rose by 25% from April 2023 to April 2024.
