Bridgend Council’s Cabinet is to discuss a new report on measures to address pressure on homelessness services (pdf).
Cabinet approval is being sought to change the council’s contract rules.
If approved, the changes will give BCBC the authority to buy Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) style properties if budgets allow.
3 HMOs have already been identified, providing 18 rooms and would cut the cost of providing a room from £85-per-day to £25-per-day.
It’ll also allow the council to extend temporary accommodation contracts with existing providers for up to 12 months without going through a lengthy tendering exercise. This should provide the 495 people living in temporary housing (as of February 2024) with some certainty.
The number of households seeking homelessness assistance or being housed in temporary accommodation has grown significantly over the last five years.
There are also additional pressures caused by increased demand for social housing that is currently not being met. At the end of February 2024, there were 2,575 applicants on Bridgend’s Common Housing Register, compared to 816 during 2019-20.
BCBC is expected to spend £4.8million on temporary accommodation during the 2023-24 financial year. This is compared to spending only £135,000 in 2017-18 – an increase of 3,456%.
Additional “No One Left Out” grant funding is expected from the Welsh Government during 2024-25 to cover some of the cost of these measures (with BCBC covering the rest), but this hasn’t been finalised yet.
