Today (03/04/25), the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has released its inquiry into children living in temporary accommodation.
Cllr Adam Hug, housing spokesperson for the LGA, said:
“Every child and family deserve quality, stable accommodation, and councils strive to make sure that the necessary support is available.
“While councils endeavour to place homeless households in their home area, sometimes the decision is made to do an out of area placement, due to availability of housing stock or other factors.
“It is no secret that the scale of the challenge facing local government on temporary accommodation and homelessness – and the financial pressures – are immense.
“Frozen temporary accommodation subsidy rates have left councils to pick up more than £700 million in temporary accommodation costs that they are unable to claim back from government.
“Government needs to use the upcoming Spending Review to ensure that councils are sufficiently resourced, including by urgently increasing the temporary accommodation subsidy.”
Notes to Editors:
While it is strongly preferable to provide accommodation for families and children within the area of the local authority assisting the household, in circumstances where this is not feasible, LGA guidance advises that the placing authority should liaise with the receiving authority (prior to the placement being made, to ensure the necessary services or provision can be delivered.
Under the new funding arrangements for the Homelessness Prevention Grant 2025/26, while grant allocation has increased to £633 million, at least 49 per cent of this funding must now be spent on homelessness prevention and relief activities. This leaves only 51 per cent (£322.83 million) available for temporary accommodation.
This change means councils have up to £76 million less to spend on temporary accommodation compared to last year, forcing them to cover the gap from already-stretched reserves.
To support councils to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping Government should:
- Uprate LHA rates to the 30th percentile of local rents beyond 2025-26
- Introduce a flexible, multi-year, homelessness prevention funding settlement.
- Uprate temporary accommodation subsidy rates to 90 per cent of the 2024 LHA rates
- Immediately remove the new ringfence within the Homelessness Prevention Grant
- Develop a cross-departmental approach to the procurement of housing and funding support for cohorts at risk of homelessness including refugees and asylum seekers, care leavers, or people leaving prison.
- Develop a sustainable funding model for the delivery of supported housing.
- Make permanent the extension to the 56-day period for asylum seekers leaving Home Office accommodation after a decision on their claim to remain
ENDS