Facing eviction and homelessness at the age of 74

Nina Warren, 74, is being evicted from her home of 13 years next month

"I don't want to move to another town, not at my age," says Nina Warren, 74, who is facing homelessness. "If I was 20 years younger that would be fine, but it'd be too much of a wrench."

After renting the same one-bed flat for 13 years, she has been given a no-fault eviction notice to move out by the end of October.

Nina found the rent on other properties she has looked at in her home town of Frome, Somerset, have gone "through the roof" so she has turned to the local authority for help.

Somerset Council has seen a 16% increase in the number of people facing homelessness, like Nina, approaching it for temporary accommodation.

The authority has agree to spend £3.4m buying 15 properties to be used as temporary housing, to try to reduce the amount it is spending on B&Bs and other temporary accommodation.

The council has accepted Nina on to the housing waiting list, and she has been bidding for the handful of socially rented properties which are released each week - only to find there are "about 50 people" ahead of her in the queue for a property.

"It's a huge waiting list I just never seem to get to the top of it," she said.

The council has told her to stay put beyond her eviction notice and wait for the bailiffs to come rather than move into emergency housing straight away, which usually means a local bed and breakfast or budget hotel chain.

Nina helps care for a number of elderly neighbours and friends in the town, cooking lunch for one 94-year-old four times a week.

She has had to find foster carers for her two cats "which is the most heart-breaking thing" in case she ends up in emergency accommodation.

"I get very stressed and anxious. Sometimes I just try to block it out and then other times I'm pacing around because I feel so helpless because I don't know what to do," she said.

"It's just living in nowhere land, and it just goes on week, after week, after week."

Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts says buying more temporary homes is the right move for the authority

More than 12,000 households are currently on the social housing waiting list in Somerset.

Almost 200 are staying in bed and breakfast accommodation - often budget hotels - as emergency housing after being made homeless.

A further 186 households are in temporary accommodation which includes hostels, self-catered holiday lets and properties owned by the council or social landlords.

Last week, on the Homefinder Somerset website, 25 properties were available for social rent, either directly from the council or from housing associations operating in the county.

The average amount of time for families living in temporary accommodation at the moment is six to nine months and tends to be longer for single people.

Somerset Council is expecting to go £3m over its budget for homelessness services this year, largely due to a 25% increase in its use of temporary accommodation.

The authority is facing a £190m overall budget gap in five years time and recently decided to buy in consultants - at a cost of up to £20m - to help it find savings.

'Positive step'

Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts, Liberal Democrat Lead Member for Communities on Somerset Council said investing £3.4m in more houses to be used as temporary accommodation was a "hugely positive step".

"By purchasing additional new properties in this way, the council maintains greater control over property suitability, quality and cost compared with temporary placements through B&Bs, hotels or Airbnb accommodation."

After two years of being used as temporary accommodation, the homes are expected to be added to the general social housing stock which the council rents out to tenants long-term.

It currently manages nearly 10,000 homes in the former Sedgemoor, Taunton Deane and West Somerset areas.

Social housing in the rest of the county is currently owned by other housing associations.

Matt Crucefix from Stonewater housing association has welcomed the government's plans.

Housing association Stonewater is building 24 homes for social rent in Frome due for completion in April next year and there are further social homes being built as part of other developments in the town too.

In her first speech as chancellor, in July 2024 Rachel Reeves promised to "get Britain building again" by bringing back compulsory housebuilding targets.

She confirmed Labour planned to build 1.5 million homes in England over the next five years.

Earlier this month, the new housing secretary Steve Reed said the number of planning approvals for new homes in England was unacceptable, after official data showed permission for building homes fell to a record low during Labour's first year in office.

Conservative shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said that Labour had "promised to 'build, build, build' but their flagship planning reforms clearly aren't working".