More than 150 councils attend emergency summit in Eastbourne

The summit, which was convened to address the social and financial ‘crisis’ created by the unprecedented demand for temporary accommodation, was hosted today (Tuesday, October 31) by Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) and the District Councils’ Network.

EBC leader Stephen Holt said: “Today we heard from councils and social housing experts, and we are all arriving at the same conclusion.

“The collapse of support for society’s most vulnerable people is now a reality for many, unless the government urgently intervenes.”

Councillor Holt said the cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities reached £1.7bn last year and is increasing rapidly, according to figures from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

EBC said it had to find an additional £2.6 million in temporary accommodation costs in 2022/23 and that figure is expected to rise to £3.6 million in 2023/24.

A letter to government, that all the councils attending the summit will be invited to sign, includes six main requests:

-Raise Local Housing Allowance rates to a level that will cover at least 30 per cent of local market rent and commit to annual uprating.

-Provide £100m additional funding for Discretionary Housing Payments in 2023-24 and an additional £200m in 2024-25.

-Provide a £150m top-up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2024-25.

-Review the cap for housing benefit subsidy rate for local authority homelessness placements.

-Develop policy to stimulate retention and supply in the privately rented sector.

-Give councils the long-term funding, flexibility and certainty needed to increase the supply of social housing.

District Councils’ Network housing spokesperson Hannah Dalton said: “Unless the government intervenes urgently, we’ll no longer be able to afford our current support to the most vulnerable people in society and will have no option but to scale back this essential safety net.

“We urge the Chancellor to listen to the immense, cross-party strength of feeling in local government – unless money is found our services will be decimated, suffering will increase as more people fall into homelessness and other parts of the public sector will be left to pick up the pieces at huge cost.”