Eastbourne Borough Council says temporary housing costs unsustainable

The council said it did not have the resources to solve the problem alone

An East Sussex council has said costs for temporary accommodation are "unsustainable" after receiving extra government funding.

Eastbourne Borough Council said it expected to spend the equivalent of 49p in every £1 of council tax it collects on the provision this financial year.

It said it would receive an extra £6m from a government loan, but the council leader said it "changes very little".

The government said additional funding would help address "challenges".

On Wednesday, the council declared that it was in a housing "emergency".

A motion to declare the emergency was submitted by Lib Dem councillor Peter Diplock, cabinet member for housing.

"The situation is unsustainable and continues to represent an existential threat to local government," said Mr Diplock.

"While councils continue to do everything in their powers to meet both the needs of residents and statutory obligations, the system was not created to deal with these ever-rising numbers of people presenting as homeless."

Government data, published on Thursday, shows there were 109,000 households in temporary accommodation in England as of 30 September.

This was a 10% increase from the previous year.

• About 18,000 people homeless in south-east England

• Council to seek extra financial support

Eastbourne organised a summit for more than 50 councils in Westminster last month in a joint bid to tackle homelessness and the financial crisis caused by temporary accommodation costs.

The council's leader, Stephen Holt, said the government had accepted a request for exceptional financial support - equating to borrowing of £3m in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.

"While the funding support is welcome, I'm afraid it changes very little in the scale of savings now required and the very tough decisions we will have to take," Mr Holt said in a statement.

"We have to pay back the borrowing from the government at an added cost and meet the savings targets already identified.

"This means that in order to achieve nearly £5 million in savings over the next financial year, every penny in discretionary council spending is under review."

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it recognised councils were "facing challenges" and that is why it recently announced an additional £600 million support package for councils in England.

It added that it was giving councils £1bn over three years to help provide additional support for people to move out of temporary accommodation, of which Eastbourne was receiving £1.9m.

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