News / Social housing
Council to buy 75 homes in £33m plan to cut down on exorbitant temporary housing fees
Bristol City Council is planning to spend £33m and buy 75 homes to use as temporary accommodation.
The plan will move 75 families out of exorbitantly expensive private accommodation, and could eventually save taxpayers more than £2m a year.
Over 1,600 households are staying in temporary accommodation in Bristol, with many in very expensive but substandard housing.
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Some are even staying in hotel rooms, as the council struggles to find enough places for people facing homelessness to stay.
Louise Davidson is head of housing delivery at Bristol City Council
Councillors have now approved a plan to buy up to 75 homes over the next financial year, beginning in April, after a vote by the strategy and resources policy committee on December 16.
They hope that as well as saving money, the plan will provide a better standard of living too.
Louise Davidson, head of housing delivery, said: “This is an approach that many local authorities have done across the country, on a similar or even larger scale. We could be making a saving of up to £2.2m a year if we were to buy all 75 of these properties.”
Jez Sweetland, tackling homelessness transformation lead, added: “It’s worth recognising if we don’t do this, where these households will end up. They will continue in much more expensive accommodation.
“One of the priorities at the moment is moving households out of hotels and [bed and breakfasts].
“This also gives us more control as we engage with the sector that provides our TA to make sure they’re behaving, and holding that sector to account. A lot of this is about the messaging back to that market.”
One concern about the plan is the cost of purchasing and renovating each home.
Each property will cost about £360,000 to £420,000 to buy and renovate, and then Simplify, the property consultants hired by the council, will get paid £14,000 per purchase.
Davidson said this fee was “very good value for money”, and includes legal and conveyancing costs.
Also last month, the council approved plans to use some of its council housing for temporary accommodation, in a bizarre plan described as like “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by Green councillor Jerome Thomas.
Up to 180 homes a year will be turned into temporary accommodation for people facing a housing emergency, while the council assesses their needs and finds them a more permanent home.
Separately, the council is planning to set up its own temporary housing company.
A full business case is expected to go before the strategy and resources policy committee at some point before March next year.
This will focus on providing both more temporary and affordable housing.
Main photo: Hannah Massoudi
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