A Central London council is looking to ease some of its temporary accommodation pressures by purchasing six properties in a different borough the other side of the River Thames.
Westminster City Council, which has seen a significant rise in the number of homeless households seeking help in the last few years, is set to approve £2.3 million to buy the Lambeth homes.
The expected acquisitions are part of the council’s wider commitment to addressing the issue of homelessness in the City, with a pot of £253.8m approved back in March for spend on temporary accommodation between 2024/25 and 2026/27.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council said while the local authority prioritises providing homes within the local area it is sometimes ‘necessary’ to purchase properties elsewhere.
In a paper prepared for Cllr David Boothroyd, Cabinet Member for Finance and Council Reform, council officers detailed the extraordinary pressures on Westminster from those seeking support for homelessness.
It is reported how in 2024/25 the council saw an increase of more than 30 per cent in households approaching the local authority compared with the year before and a net spend on temporary accommodation of £66.2m, almost double that in 2023/24. In 2021/22, the net spend was £4.5m.
The issue has been compounded by high rent levels in Westminster which are above the local housing allowance (LHA) rates.
These are set by the Government though paid by councils to tenants on low incomes renting from a private landlord.
Council officers wrote: “Sourcing good quality private sector properties in the current market, whether to prevent homelessness or for TA [temporary accommodation], is very challenging. The demand for TA has outstripped the Council’s supply of suitable accommodation and has thus required the use of hotel and self-contained apartment accommodation charged on a nightly rate to meet the Council’s statutory obligations. This in turn has led to increased lengths of stay in unsuitable accommodation for both individuals and families and escalating revenue costs for the Council.
“The Council has a strategy in place to deal with these challenges which involves a significant expansion of the current temporary accommodation estate. This is being delivered through a combination of property leasing and acquisition. It is anticipated that this will take the estate from a current figure of circa 4,250 units to over 6,000 units by 2027/28.”
It is added that on occasion it is necessary for the council to look outside of Westminster “from a suitability, availability and budgetary perspective”.
It is common for local authorities to purchase temporary accommodation outside of their borough boundaries.
MyLondon has reported on this issue extensively, uncovering instances where residents have been moved as far away as Manchester and Middlesbrough.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) last year revealed how Westminster itself had sent tenants to properties in areas including Southend-on-Sea, North Hertfordshire and South Bucks.
While the purchase of homes in Lambeth, which is just over the River Thames, is not nearly as drastic it reflects the ongoing need for councils to look beyond their immediate vicinity.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council said: “There is enormous pressure on housing in the city and we do all we can to provide homes for people in need.
“This is a nationwide issue, but one felt particularly keenly in places like Westminster where there is so much demand for homes.
“We have made providing, safe, high quality, affordable homes in the city our top priority and Westminster has a strong record of building new homes. Since 2018 we have completed over 1,400 homes, most of which are affordable, and we’re due to complete over 250 more this year.
“In response to the immense pressure on local authorities to house those assessed as homeless it has also been necessary to buy additional properties to be used as housing.
“Any properties we acquire are assessed on a range of criteria including transport links, local amenities, size, condition, and value. We want to provide good homes for people, however long they are there, to enable them to start to rebuild their lives.
“Many local authorities in the capital buy homes out of borough. Wherever possible we try to ensure this is close to people’s existing family networks.”
