FoI reveals that Luton Borough Council has spent £20.4 million to house homeless families

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MORE than £20 million has been spent by the council on temporary housing since 2011, this newspaper can reveal.

Luton Borough Council has said it is trying to reduce the £20.4m bill it has incurred between 2011-2014 for housing homeless families.

The figures came from a Freedom of Information request submitted by Luton on Sunday, which show that the expenditure has increased each year, with £17.1m going to accommodation from private landlords.

The council said the spending was due to a rising demand in the town.

There are currently 984 people living in temporary housing and the authority said the Right to Buy scheme had affected the number of family-sized social houses available.

Anna Brosnan, from the National Housing Federation, commented: “The broken housing market means that places like Luton are being hit very hard as people struggle to keep up with spiralling housing costs in the region.”

Mo Harkin, head of housing at Luton, said: “The residential rental market is considered to be overheated with private landlords demanding rent levels which cannot be covered in full by housing benefit due to legislative restrictions.

“Competition from London authorities is reducing the affordable private stock available to local residents and an increasing number of landlords are deciding to sell up making existing households obliged to seek alternate accommodation.”

Mrs Harkin said the council would tackle the issue through ‘early intervention’ with people facing eviction and advising them on how best to avoid becoming homeless.

She said: “We are also negotiating with landlords and friends/family to keep families or postpone possession to allow more time to find alternatives.

“The nature of the advice given to customers has also changed following the changes to the allocations policy last year.

She added: “We will continue to procure private sector rental arrangements in partnership with lettings agencies for both long and short-term use.

“The council’s Private Sector Leasing (PSL) Scheme is operated in conjunction with four local letting agents all accredited under the LBC Landlord Accreditation Scheme.

“Under this scheme, letting agents procure properties from private landlords which the council rents from the agent and issues Licences to Occupy to Homeless households.”

She said the council was also leasing properties, building on disused garage sites and working on developments such as the Purley in Marsh Farm and the Drill Hall in High Town.