Council to buy properties to ease housing crisis

The housing situation in Plymouth has been described as "desperate"

Plymouth's council has approved the buying of properties across the city to try and ease the housing crisis.

A lack of affordable homes has resulted in more demand for housing and local homelessness services, the council says.

A business case meeting on Monday approved borrowing £10m as well as an application for a Homes England grant of up to £5m.

Councillor Chris Penberthy, cabinet member for housing, co-operative development and communities, said the housing situation was "desperate".

'Awful for families'

The council said as well as providing homes, investing in properties could reduce the amount the council spent on temporary accommodation by over £1m a year.

Properties acquired would be classified as supported accommodation and the council said it would provide a family support service.

Councillor Mark Lowry, cabinet member for finance, said: “This is a sensible way to make people’s lives better and to help tackle a budget pressure which will only get worse.

"We have to do something as this is just awful for families caught in this situation."

Becky Saxton is from the Plymouth Access to Housing charity which helps homeless families

Analysis by BBC South West political reporter Miles Davis

The housing crisis is one of the main problems being faced by local authorities across the south west.

Councillors in Plymouth said the need for temporary accommodation was only increasing and some of the people affected were now working families left homeless through no-fault evictions.

In Cornwall, the council has turned to solutions like homeless pods and cabins in a bid to try and bring down the temporary accommodation bill.

In Plymouth, the council believes it is worth borrowing the £10m to buy about 50 homes.

It says it makes economic sense – by saving money on expensive bed and breakfast accommodation – but is also the right thing to do for families in need.

'Record amount'

Mr Penberthy said: "Plymouth is experiencing a record amount of people approaching the council for housing support.

“We are now seeing families with jobs, with children who find themselves simply unable to find a place to live.

"Landlords are selling up in record numbers, mortgages are going through the roof as well as rent."

He added: "We have been talking to property agents and, for every home that comes up to rent, there are over 100 inquiries.”

The local authority said there had been a 158% increase in demand for temporary and short-term accommodation since 2019/2020, from 160 households in 2019 to 413 households in 2023.

Becky Saxton from the homelessness charity, Plymouth Access to Housing, said: "We've got much higher housing need, we've got much more homeless people and we've got far fewer properties to house people into.

"One of the biggest factors is that the private rental market has shrunk dramatically over the last three years due to rising house prices, rising interest rates and the ease with which landlords can move into the holiday rental market."