Council highlights temporary housing 'crisis'

Portsmouth City Council said it had seen a 54% increase in households needing temporary accommodation

A council facing a £5.6m budget gap has urged the government to address a "significant crisis" in temporary housing.

Portsmouth City Council highlighted a 54% increase in households placed in temporary accommodation over the past year, with numbers now exceeding 500.

Deputy Leader Darren Sanders warned that, without an immediate cash injection, the council may have to cut services to plug the shortfall.

In the recent budget announcement, the government said it was providing another £233m to "help prevent future rises of families in temporary accommodation" across the country.

Mr Sanders said the council was "yet to see what that money means".

'National crisis'

Temporary accommodation supports people in a variety of situations, such as those who have been evicted or are escaping domestic abuse.

Mr Sanders said there was a "national homelessness crisis", as demand soared and the cost of providing accommodation increased.

According to the Local Government Association, the number of households nationally living in temporary accommodation has risen by 89% over the past decade.

"We've been very lucky in Portsmouth in that we've managed to mitigate that through our policy of buying back council homes," said Mr Sanders.

"However, over the past few weeks, it's become clear that we are now facing a significant crisis in our temporary accommodation."

The government said it is putting nearly £1b towards trying to end homelessness

Portsmouth City Council said exact figures changed daily, but over 500 households were currently in temporary accommodation - while this time last year it was just over 300.

The biggest causes in Portsmouth were the ending of private rented tenancies, eviction by friends and family, and domestic abuse, the council said, with a lack of affordable housing and increasing private rents contributing to the problem.

"What we want to do is ask the government to... make it easier for us to deal with the problem," said Mr Sanders.

"We've got ideas for the longer and medium term but we've got a short-term crisis."

He said "financial certainty" would allow the council to be "creative" in solving the problem.

"Extra money, for instance, could help us buy empty homes," he said.

"That's the sort of stuff we want to do."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) said they had "inherited devastating levels of rough sleeping" and were providing another £233m to "help prevent future rises of families in temporary accommodation" across the country.

"This takes total spending on reducing homelessness to nearly £1 billion in 2025-26," they said.