Council to spend £2m on homes for housing scheme

The council said the purchase would be a further step in tackling homelessness

Plans to buy 11 new homes to help house homeless families in Scarborough have been approved by councillors.

North Yorkshire Council will spend £2m on the new-build properties, which will be rented to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in the town.

Councillors said it was a "step in the right direction” and would help address the cost of providing temporary accommodation for people.

Simon Myers, executive member for housing, said: “It’s quite fitting that this new temporary accommodation is in the Scarborough area where residents face some of the worst housing pressures."

The properties will be bought at a cost of £185,255 each, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service,

The cost of furnishings will be met from the Homelessness Prevention Grant and rents charged for the properties will be set at affordable rates and will include “a small service charge element”.

Eastfield ward councillor Tony Randerson told the executive: "As much as I support this initiative, this is but one small step in alleviating the suffering of some 2,500 families currently without a permanent roof over their heads in the Scarborough area alone.

"We are in my view at a crisis point in and around Scarborough and we as a council need to do significantly more to ease the homelessness problem for so many in the county, but especially in the Scarborough area.”

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