Council to buy hundreds of properties for homeless

The council has already bought 20 properties at a cost of £5.6m

Medway Council will buy 150 properties to house "families who find they might not have a roof over their heads," according to councillor Naushabah Khan.

The authority will operate the temporary accommodation, which will cost a total of £42m, rather than paying private landlords.

Ms Khan, who is responsible for housing and property in Medway, said she wanted to find a solution that meant the council were less reliant on the private rented sector.

Medway faced increasing rates of homelessness in 2022/23, with nearly 4000 requests for assistance, an increase of 42% from 2020/21.

Howard Doe, another councillor, said the move would "really help those lower income groups".

He said: "When we engage temporary accommodation at the moment we don’t do it on our terms, we do it on the landlords' terms.

"What this will do is give us control."

He said this would mean the council could apply "really good standards for accommodation and give certainty to the people who need it".

Medway Council tested the scheme in January 2023, buying 20 properties at a cost of £5.6m.

Ms Khan said the council would act cautiously so they did not inflate house prices by buying them all at once.

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