Homeless housing puts Norfolk council under ‘huge strain’

A coastal council said it was struggling to cope with the cost of temporary accommodation for homeless people.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) has seen the money it spends placing people in bed and breakfasts increase by 335% in the last five years.

Wendy Fredericks, deputy leader of the authority, said: “Financially, it’s put a huge strain on our council.”

The government has just published new plans to help deliver 1.5m new homes by 2029.

Under government rules, councils must provide help to people if they are legally homeless or will become homeless within the next eight weeks.

This could be because they have nowhere to live, they have been evicted by their landlord, they are at risk of violence or abuse or their accommodation is overcrowded.

Mrs Fredericks said NNDC was seeing growing numbers of people coming forward for help.

Last year the authority spent £860k on temporary accommodation, up from £197k in 2019/20.

“It’s frustrating for officers here that every day they have to answer the telephone calls to people that are desperate and we haven’t got anywhere,” she said.

“The problem is ever growing and it’s not immigrants, not refugees.

“We see people that normally live and work in north Norfolk without being able to have a roof over their head.”

Mrs Fredericks is now calling on the government to provide more funding for councils to cover the cost of temporary accommodation or to help them build more social housing.

On Tuesday, the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, unveiled an overhaul of England’s planning rules to help deliver 1.5m new homes by 2029.

Under the new system, councils will have to incorporate government-set housing targets into their long-term plans to allocate land.

Mrs Fredericks said her council wanted to build suitable accommodation but needed financial support.

“I’d love a conversation with Angela Rayner as soon as possible so I can understand where the funding is coming from because that’s the important part,” she said.

“It’s OK to have targets, but please give us the tools to do that.”

Claire Shearing, 44, has just moved into a new, affordable rental house in Northrepps, Norfolk, built by Broadland Housing Association.

She had previously been living in a two-bedroom house with her husband and two children for five years while waiting for a new home to become available.

Her 10-year-old son has autism and was having to share a bedroom with his six-year-old sister, which was placing pressure on the family.

Now living in a three-bedroom house, Mrs Shearing said the family were much calmer in their new accommodation.

“It’s just basically dream come true,” she said. “Everyone is just so much more relaxed. The kids are sleeping better.

“It’s been a total weight lifted off everybody’s shoulders.

“But there should be more houses like this because there’s just so many people around that need housing.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said it planned to work with local authorities to tackle the problem.

“Homelessness levels have sky-rocketed and too many families are living in temporary accommodation,” they said.

“We will deliver the largest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation and work closely with local councils to develop a long-term, cross-government strategy to tackle homelessness.”