Homelessness: Breckland Council to buy 11 properties

Breckland Council has agreed to purchase 11 homes to help its most vulnerable residents

Some £1.6m is to be spent on on buying 11 properties for homeless and vulnerable people in part of Norfolk.

The investment by Breckland Council will allow the district to buy a collection of properties in Thetford and Dereham.

The ruling Conservatives said it would reduce the local authority's reliance on alternative, more expensive options like bed and breakfast accommodation.

Labour opposition leader Terry Jermy said it should have happened sooner.

To give his colleagues at the full council meeting an idea of the problem of lack of general accommodation in Thetford, he cited an online housing rental website and said were usually about 20 people looking for a room at any one time.

But when he had last checked, that figure was up at 62 - with just eight properties advertised, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The number of people seeking rented rooms has rocketed according to a Labour councillor

Mr Jermy said: "There aren't just the places for people to go and if they're being kicked out of somewhere; they need to be housed somewhere.

"That's fuelling the demand, because frankly if you're on your own, you can't afford to run a house on your own, even if you're in full-time work."

Conservative councillor Bill Borrett said: "Isn't councillor Jermy lucky that we have got £1.6m to spend on this?

"A lot of authorities, in these cash-strapped times, wouldn't have the resources, the wherewithal, to be able to make decisions like this.

"I think it's actually very timely.

"There is an increase in demand and the council is managing that by stepping up to the plate and purchasing - so that we know there will be good-quality, safe accommodation for people to use."