More than 1000 households forced into temporary accomodation in last five years at a cost of £1.9m

Temporary Accommodation is accommodation provided in connection with a local authority’s statutory homelessness obligations under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996, (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002); which, amongst other things, sets out duties and powers for local housing authorities to secure temporary accommodation for people presenting as homeless.

A household or person living in temporary accommodation (TA) is a licensee and not a tenant.

Folkestone & Hythe District Council use different types of temporary accommodation such as:

B&Bs

Hotels,

Self contained nightly lets.

As per the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003 accommodation has either a shared toilet, shared personal washing facilities, or shared cooking facilities it will be considered to be a B&B.

Between 2018/19 and June 2023, FHDC housed 384 adults and 158 in Bed & Breakfast accommodation. In total this was 336 households.

To house these 336 households in temporary accomodation came at a cost to the Council. 

B&B Supplier Breakdown	2018/2019 £	2019/2020 £	2020/2021 £	2021/2022 £	2022/2023 £	2023 to 30/06/23 £	Total £
Ahoy Westward Ho	1,150	0	30	1,710	0	0	2,890
Bluebells	0	0	0	10,280	1,519	0	11,799
Chandos Guest House	0	23,850	21,330	6,240	2,360	0	53,780
Hotel Burstin	65	0	0	181	0	0	246
Portland Hotel	0	7,440	40,540	2,352	5,470	0	55,802
Premier Inn	178	0	0	0	0	0	178
Premier Inn Ashford	0	1,055	0	0	0	0	1,055
Premier Inn Dover Central	0	0	352	669	0	0	1,021
Premier Inn Folkestone (Channel Tunnel)	0	0	3,535	560	0	0	4,095
Regency Guest House	6,985	0	0	0	0	0	6,985
Ryemore Guest House	240	0	0	0	0	0	240
Sunny Lodge Guest House	30	6,450	14,190	590	5,320	0	26,580
The Grand Canaria	920	125	0	2,347	13,392	1,360	18,144
The Granada Guesthouse	60	5,900	240	0	0	0	6,200
The Grand Burstin Hotel	0	50	0	0	0	0	50
The Hamlet Hotel	0	0	0	0	50,370	9,330	59,700
The Swan Hotel	0	0	4,064	0	0	0	4,064
The Windsor Hotel	0	0	0	0	31,445	595	32,040
Travel Lodge	0	276	375	100	0	0	751
Westward Ho Hotel	0	26,175	17,420	13,285	70	420	57,370
Total	9,628	71,321	102,076	38,314	109,946	11,705	342,990
Source: Folkestone & Hythe District Council

However, we cannot verify the financial data in the chart above against the Council published payment to suppliers data, as many of the payments do not appear in the council’s published data. This is not the first time we have reported on missing data from the council’s payment to suppliers.

Moving on, the other type of temporary accomodation used by the Council is what are described as self contained nightly lets. These are flats let on a nightly basis. 

Between 2018/19 and June 2023, 715 households made up of 862 adults and 798 children were housed by our Council in self contained nightly lets.

This came at a cost of more than £1.5m to our council.

However, we cannot verify the financial data in the chart above against the Council published payment to suppliers data, as many of the payments do not appear in the council’s published data. This is not the first time we have reported on missing data from the council’s payment to suppliers.

Using the Council’s data, the use of B&B hotels and self contained nightly lets has cost £1,856,811 between 2018/19 and June 2023.

On the 3 Oct 2022, there were 709 long term vacant properties in our district according to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (Table 615). 

These homes not used would have helped all the households mentioned, but this has not been the case. 

Another issue affecting people being squeezed into temporary accomodation is rising rent costs. The Average property rents in Folkestone currently at £1,291 pcm and the median rent at £1,125 pcm.

The Local Housing Allowance amounts which sets the maximum amount of Housing Benefit you can receive on benefits and/or a low income, is based on the number of bedrooms you and your family need is not paid in full by the Council. The LHA rates were raised in April 2020 and since then have been frozen in cash terms. The amount of Local Housing Allowance households are eligible for in our district in 2023/24 are as follows:

Another factor in the equation are section 21 eviction notices – also known as no-fault evictions  In April 2019, former Prime Minister Theresa May promised to abolish section 21 eviction notices – but this has not happened yet. In our district the number of s21 eviction notices has increased, this is because of a variety of reasons including, landlords selling up due to rising interest rates, as well as concern about tightening regulations in the Renters (Reform) Bill introduced in May, and past changes to the tax rules for rental properties.

And the number of completed affordable rented homes completed by our Council and/or s106 money between 2018/19 and 2021/22 (latest data available) is 73 homes, according to DLUHC.

It’s clear not enough affordable anything is being built and completed in our district. This needs to change. If it doesn’t, then the numbers of households driven into temporary accomodation will grow still further, by number and by cost.

The answer lies at both national and district level, let’s hope they come sooner rather than later

To make a home for the homeless, yes, it is a thing that must be good; whatever the world may say, it cannot be wrong. — Vincent Van Gogh

The Shepway Vox Team

The Velvet Voices of Voxatiousness