Ealing council spends millions on B&Bs and hostels for homeless
Ealing council spends millions on B&Bs and hostels for homeless
Ealing council spent millions of pounds on housing homeless people in bed and breakfasts and hostels last year, new figures show.
Housing and homelessness charity Shelter said families are being pushed into homelessness and living in "awful" temporary accommodation across the country due to unaffordable rent and lack of social homes.
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures shows Ealing council spent a total of £48 million on temporary homeless housing in the year to March, down from £52.7 million the year before.
Private sector accommodation leased by the local authority accounted for a significant amount of spending with £45.1 million paid – 94% of the total expenditure for temporary accommodation last year.
A further £2.7 million (6%) went towards housing people in bed and breakfasts in the area. And about £143,000 (0%) went towards hostels which includes refuges and emergency accommodation.
Last year's spending is also below the amount spent five years ago when £49.2 million was put towards temporary homeless accommodation in the area – equating to a real-terms decrease of 13%.
But across England, an estimated £1.6 billion was used by local authorities towards short-term accommodation for people facing homelessness in 2021-22 – up 5% from the previous year and a 62% real-terms increase from five years ago.
Of last years total expenditure, £407 million went towards bed and breakfasts and hostels. Spending on bed and breakfasts alone has increased 7% in real terms since 2016-17.
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 billion on grim B&Bs and grotty flats, instead of helping people to keep hold of their home in the first place."
Ms Neate added housing benefit – which assists people who are unemployed, low-income, or on other benefits to pay rent – has been frozen since 2020 "despite private rents rocketing".
She added: "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.”
She said housing benefit must be unfrozen so people can better pay rent and added the Government must build "truly affordable" social homes to end homelessness.
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said it is providing councils with £316 million this year to prevent homelessness.
They added: “Temporary accommodation is a last resort, but a vital lifeline for those at risk of sleeping rough.
“We know people are concerned about rising costs, which is why have announced the Energy Price Guarantee, to support household with their energy bills over the winter, and a further £37 billion of support for those struggling with the cost of living.”
Articles-Popular
- Main
- Contact Us
- Planetary Existences-2
- Planetary Existences
- TWO REVELATIONS-2
- The Two Revelations
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 9
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 8
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 10
- Universality of Initiation
- The Participants In The Mysteries-2
- The Path Of Initiation
- Initiation and the Devas
- Discipleship - Group Relations - 2
- The Fourth Way - Study of Oneself - P.D.Ouspensky
- Impeachment Investigators Subpoena White House - Ukraine
- The Probationary Path - 2
- The Final Initiation
- The Succeeding Two Initiations
- The Participants In The Mysteries
- Discipleship - Group Relationships
- Discipleship
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 7
- The Fourth Way - Wrong Functions - P.D Ouspensky
- Statues are a mark of honour. Like Edward Colston, Cecil Rhodes and Oliver Cromwell have to go
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 6
Articles - Latest
- Jamaica condemns Frank Hester’s Diane Abbott comments amid concern over contract
- The latest on the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse
- Putin will be ruthless after the Moscow attack, but Russians don’t trust him to keep them safe Opinion by Andrei Soldatov
- A, B and C Influences: The Fourth way -P.D.Ouspensky.
- Russian court rejects legal claim against prison by Alexei Navalny’s mother
- Botswana's president accuses British MPs of 'colonial' interference over demands for trophy hunting ban - as Gary Lineker is told to come and see the destruction caused by elephants
- As election nears, Venezuelan government keeps arresting opponents allegedly tied to criminal plots
- Vietnam loses its second president in two years amid concerns for political stability
- Falling armed forces recruitment levels deemed ‘national security crisis’
- Ohio state Rep. Ismail Mohamed delivers victory speech in Somali after winning district primary
- Vladimir Putin sends lifeline to Cuba as country faces total collapse
- 'Death or surrender': IDF arrests 650, including 'senior Hamas officials,' in Shifa
- NATO ally ready to deploy 60,000 troops to Ukraine as Vladimir Putin threatens retaliation
- The country planning on funnelling Putin's soldiers 'into kill zones' as they prep for war
- India blocks access, residency permits of overseas ‘citizen’ critics