22.11.19
Nottingham City Council to house hundreds of homeless
Nottingham City Council is tackling homelessness in the city by working to make more homes available to them.
In addition to exciting housing stock, 70 more properties will be bought following a loan agreement between the council’s Executive Board and Nottingham City Homes (NCH), taking the total number of homes available to homeless people to 220 over the past two years.
The new measures will aim to reduce the number of bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) that are currently being used as temporary accommodation, calling it ‘costly for the council’ and ‘undesirable for families’.
Affordable housing has been scarce in recent years and cuts to welfare benefits, such as homelessness prevention services, have caused the number of people registering as homeless to rise.
Renting arrears have resulted in people unable to keep their homes and home ownership has become less achievable for low income households.
Last Christmas, the council used self-contained private properties to ensure that no families were in B&Bs, and the council is committed to continuing to limit the use of B&Bs as much as possible.
The collaboration between the council and NCH has provided temporary accommodation for hundreds of vulnerable people, with 111 properties, soon to be increased to 150 provided for temporary use.
NCH also run a hostel called Highwood House, providing a further 29 flats, offering 132 homeless people temporary accommodation.
City Council portfolio holder for Planning and Housing, Cllr Linda Woodings, said:
“We have seen the number of people registering as homeless rise significantly in recent years and are doing what we can to ensure there is enough decent temporary housing to accommodate them while longer-term solutions are found.”
Nick Murphy, chief executive at Nottingham City Homes, said:
“We have already built over 500 new council homes over the last five years and there are hundreds more in the pipeline; however, the waiting list and homelessness is continuing to grow.
“We are working with the council to look at ways we can increase the amount of affordable housing in Nottingham. We are supporting local homeless families as much as possible and this much-needed funding will go to buying homes which will allow us to provide quality short-term accommodation for those in need.”