Havering spends £560,000 on hotels as homelessness cases soar

A Romford Recorder legal action has revealed that the council has already spent more than £500,000 on emergency hotel and B&B accommodation this financial year.  

It projects that the total cost this year will exceed £700,000. 

READ MORE:

• Havering Housing Boss: 'Financial crisis will force vulnerable from their homes'

More than 50 families with children spent Christmas in hotels or B&Bs.   

Two years earlier, in December 2020, the figure was zero. 

The council says it is facing “unprecedented” homelessness applications amid the cost-of-living crisis. 

Labour councillor Paul McGeary, cabinet member for housing, said a perfect storm created by the crisis was forcing Havering to rely on hotels. 

He said: “Despite this being an incredibly expensive short-term solution, which we don’t want to have to use or rely on, and that ultimately puts further pressure on our existing budget crisis, we have a duty of care to look after our vulnerable residents which we take very seriously.” 

Homeless families must share cramped hotel rooms, surrounded by piles of belongings. Without fridges, they try to keep their milk cook by leaving it in cold water in the bathroom sink (Image: Submitted)

"Out-bid in our own borough” 

The maximum rent Havering can pay for homeless households is set by the government and called the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). 

But while rents are rising as landlords face soaring mortgage repayments, LHAs are not. 

So as more families file homelessness applications because they can’t pay their rent – the council finds it cannot afford to rent on their behalf either. 

The average rent for a three-bedroom family home in Havering is now between £1,500 and £1,600 per month – but the LHA is £1,375. 

Cllr McGeary said other London councils with higher LHAs, facing the same problem in their own boroughs, were now snapping up properties in slightly less expensive Havering. 

“We... are simply being out-bid in our own borough as we are not able to afford premium rents to cover the costs of inflation,” he said. 

With a legal duty to house homeless families, but no houses to put them in, the council must use emergency hotel and B&B accommodation. 

One hotel used by Havering Council is the Travelodge on the A127 in East Horndon, where single mothers without cars said the nearest shop was almost an hour away on foot (Image: Google Streetview)

400% rise 

The Recorder used the Freedom of Information Act to demand data on the council’s use of hotels and B&Bs. 

It shows Havering’s monthly spend has rocketed by almost 400 per cent in two years. 

In October 2020, 14 homeless households – none of which had children – were put up in hotels or B&Bs, costing the council £33,990. 

By October 2022, 67 households were put up in hotels, including 25 families with children. That cost the council £168,212.  

November’s hotel bill was similar, at £167,177. 

READ MORE:

• Havering Council left homeless families stranded in A127 hotel

Havering told the Recorder that in the financial year up to November, it had spent over £560,000 on hotels and B&Bs. 

As hotels up their prices amid the cost-of-living crisis, the council is facing an expensive double-whammy: unprecedented need for hotels, and unprecedented cost for using them. 

In October 2020, the average cost to the council for one night in a hotel was £72.94. In October 2021, it was £72.95. 

But by October 2022, the average had risen by 30pc to £94.82. Across a month (30 nights), that would be £2,844.60 - so substantially more expensive than the average rent. 

Paul McGeary, Havering Council's cabinet member for housing, said a planned new hostel would reduce the council's reliance on hotels and B&Bs (Image: Newsquest)

Unlawful 

Between October 2020 and December 2021, the number of households with children in hotels per month was never higher than four. 

But throughout 2022 it has crept upwards – to 11 in June, 18 in July, 20 in August and September, 25 in October. In December, it was 51. 

In addition to being “incredibly expensive”, keeping families in hotels for long periods is illegal. 

The Housing Act states that councils must not keep households with children in temporary accommodation for more than six weeks (42 nights). 

In the past year, the longest any Havering family has spent in hotel or B&B accommodation is 324 nights – almost eight times the legal limit. 

“Whilst the council takes its statutory duty very seriously due to the housing crisis it is now unavoidable for some families to stay in B&B longer than 6 weeks," said Cllr McGeary.

"Every effort to source longer term temporary accommodation is being sought for these families."

He said the council was lobbying for additional government funding and developing a new 74-unit hostel in Harold Hill, which would reduce its reliance on hotels and B&Bs.