More people being placed into B&Bs in Shropshire
Despite temporary accommodation units being opened, Shropshire Council says a number of factors have still led to an increase in people using bed and breakfasts (B&Bs).
The Tannery, a 60-bed unit in Shrewsbury, welcomed its first tenants earlier this year, which the council said has reduced the numbers in B&Bs significantly. Other temporary accommodation products are also due to open within the next month, which provide an additional 50-plus beds.
The units will be staffed 24/7, which the council says will offer better support and outcomes for its clients as well as being more cost-effective.
Many of the units are managed by STAR Housing, who carries out repairs, maintenance and improvement works when the properties become void.
However, they have recently changed contractor, meaning there has been a significant delay in properties being handed back to the council’s housing team for use.
“This then means we have to use B&B accommodation as we do not have enough council units to meet our need,” said Billy Webster, assistant director of transformation at Shropshire Council.
“Concerns have been raised with STAR who are now prioritising void work for temporary accommodation units and these have started to be handed back and therefore we have started to see numbers in B&B drop again.
“There are also a large number of households in temporary accommodation who have been matched with a property owned by social landlords (including STAR) but when the property needs significant work before the household can move in there are often significant wait times.
“This means we have a duty to continue to accommodate the household until they are able to move (often a number of months).
“This reduces the number of households moving into permanent houses and therefore less available temporary accommodation for new presentations.
“Concerns will be raised directly with the landlords to explain the impact this has on the council.”
Mr Webster added there has also been a large increase in the number of households presenting as homeless (from around 60 a week to moore than 100) which means a need to acccomodate more people.
“With a slow move on into permanent housing and a large number of void properties available for use as temporary accommodation, we do not have available stock to use and therefore have to place households into B&B accommodation,” said Mr Webster.
“We are in the process of looking into this data to understand if there is any pattern or reasons for the increase in presentations and therefore changes or additional support we can put in place.”
It is one area of improvement that Mr Webster has highlighted as part of a performance monitoring report that will go before both the Transformation and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee and cabinet next week.
