Ealing Council Announces £150 Million Housing Fund
To be used to buy homes for people currently in temporary accommodation
Boy temporarily housed turns a hotel corridor into a football pitch. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/Mylondon
October 22, 2024
Ealing Council plans to invest £150 million in buying up property over the next two years to alleviate pressures on bed and breakfast accommodation and reduce spiralling costs of using hotels as temporary homes for those who need them. This is part of the council’s plan to end the need for families who face eviction to stay in a bed and breakfast, and instead stay in newly purchased accommodation owned by the council.
There are now almost 8,000 households on the waiting list for a socially rented home in Ealing. Last year, more than 4,500 local households approached the council as homeless or at immediate risk of homelessness – the highest rate in the region.
The council can also have 3,000 households in temporary accommodation at any time. These plans aim to cut costs in the long term by moving those households into council owned accommodation, rather than hotels. The Local Democracy Reporting Service previously reported that homeless families are being placed in Travelodge Kew Bridge, one woman and her children costing £700 a week to place there.
At a meeting of full council on Tuesday, 15 October, Councillor Amarjit Jamu asked Council Leader Peter Mason how the council is supporting homeless families in Ealing. Cllr Mason said there has been an exponential increase of families arriving at Perceval House, homeless and seeking support from the council, in comparison to previous years. He added: “We have seen a collapse in the private rented sector in Ealing, with some 50% of the market contracting in such time and of course, what that means is we have seen a massive increase in the use of bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation. Just a few short years ago Ealing was able to end that practice.”
An Ealing Council spokesperson told the LDRS: “There has long been a chronic shortage of affordable housing in Ealing and, in recent years, we have seen a huge shift in the availability of affordable accommodation in our borough, with private rents having almost doubled in some areas since 2018. As a result, the council has seen a huge rise in the number of families who have no choice but to approach us for help with emergency housing.
The interior of a hotel used to temporarily house families. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/Mylondon
“Our temporary accommodation purchasing scheme will see up to £150 million invested in properties to provide emergency, temporary housing. This will mean that fewer households will need to be placed into bed and breakfasts or, as has been the need more recently, into expensive commercial hotels. We are currently assessing opportunities to secure around 500 homes over the next two years.
“We want to ensure that the temporary accommodation we use is of good quality and is as sustainable to the council as possible. To achieve this, we will create a property pipeline using both revenue and capital and government/GLA grants to buy or take long and short leases on both individual properties and entire blocks, in Ealing, elsewhere in London, or outside London.”
Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter