Cornwall Council set to spend £15 million buying homes for the homeless

Cornwall Council is planning to spend £15million on acquiring properties that can be used as temporary accommodation for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness.

The council has implemented schemes such as the Carrick Cabins in Truro that have provided accommodation for homeless people, but it says these are only temporary and it wants to create more permanent facilities.

A report on the proposals is set to go before the council’s Cabinet next week, although details of how the money will be spent and properties that could be acquired have not been made public.

The council is looking to acquire properties to avoid the high costs of using bed and breakfast and hotels. The report states that the council’s overspend on temporary accommodation for 2020/21 was £5.9m.

However, the financial pressure of temporary accommodation could rise to as high as £15.6m this year based on current trends.

The new proposals could be controversial as the council is looking to reallocate more than £10m which had been earmarked for affordable housing programmes in order to fund the project.

In the report to Cabinet, it is highlighted that there are around 570 households in Cornwall in temporary accommodation and that the financial impact is “considerable”.

It adds that 2020 was an “extraordinary year” but the council’s “bold interventions” helped to provide good quality temporary accommodation such as the Carrick Cabins and Longrock facilities.

But it states: “However, schemes like Carrick Cabins are not, and cannot be permanent solutions and, although hugely useful at reducing the pressure at the height of the pandemic, the focus now needs to shift to providing a mix of sustainable well-planned schemes throughout the Duchy suitable for a range of client groups.

“It is therefore proposed that the council develops and acquires a portfolio of properties, of various types, for temporary accommodation to minimise the use of non-commissioned accommodation and reduce the level of housing benefit rent subsidy loss.

“Such a portfolio has the potential to generate significant savings to the council and there is a strong ‘invest to save’ argument for its delivery."

Cabinet is due to meet at 10 am on Wednesday (Sept 22) at County Hall in Truro – the meeting will be webcast live on the council’s website.

Credit: Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporting Service