Acquiring existing stock to ease temporary housing crisis

Local authorities can access help to avoid unexpected pitfalls or consequences of this approach

A recent report commissioned by the Local Government Association, Building a Better Future, found that the annual cost to local authorities of providing temporary accommodation for 110,000 households in England was now £1.74bn – a rise of 62% over five years.

With the new government estimating the total number of new housing starts is likely to fall to below 200,000 in this financial year, compared with the proposed target of 370,000 homes, it is little wonder that in recent months a growing number of local authorities are once again considering the possibilities to use existing stock to help address this part of the housing crisis through programmes for acquisition. Over recent years, we have worked with many such councils.

There is undoubtedly logic to the approach: it makes use of existing stock; it can be relatively flexible – the council can acquire the size and type of properties it needs, as long as it has the evidence base to understand this; it can be quicker than identifying sites and developing new stock, and the council can pursue this approach through several mechanisms.

These include their housing revenue account, delivery vehicles or through partnerships with private sector-backed pension funds. Financially, it may be cheaper than expensive nightly accommodation, and the council has the opportunity to own stock to meet need well into the future.

Temporary accommodation modelling

However, we have seen various pitfalls and unintended consequences in some cases, where we have been called in to help.

These include risks around developing the right acquisition strategy, ensuring the first people to move into these properties are not the only beneficiaries, repairs and maintenance costs of individual properties, and even displacement of private sector tenancies.

Ultimately, whether the approach of acquiring properties to meet housing need is right for any particular area will depend on local context.

Utilising our temporary accommodation modelling capability, through the dedicated tool in the Resource Hub of our website, will help you to work through the possibilities.