Observer Column 4 August 2023

Our housing crisis
 
There can't be many things in life worse than the fear, or the reality, of not having a home.
 
In the 19th century we had workhouses where some basic shelter and food could be found, but at a terrible price for those having no choice but to go there.
 
In the 1960s squatting became quite a thing, and I remember fellow university students living in squats in York to get them through the costs of a degree.
 
And now? It is each local authority that has a statutory duty to house homeless residents. This is a big responsibility, finding suitable accommodation, matching this to the resident's needs, and then helping them look for somewhere permanent as they get back on their feet.
 
Until three years ago this was still quite unusual. Here in Hastings, we had about 170 people needing help and most of them could be found somewhere reasonably local, so their family and friends network remained intact.
 
Things have totally changed now. More than 1,000 people are currently in temporary accommodation here, and due to the changes in our local housing market, with both house prices and rental costs rising dramatically post COVID-19, more and more are being housed outside Hastings, often miles away. They can't easily find or afford somewhere permanent. And so, the costs of this are the council's responsibility.
 
Government cover the basic Local Housing Allowance (which was set 12 years ago at a time when rents here were modest) and we pay the rest.
 
These are the basic reasons why the council is now spending over £5m a year on temporary accommodation, and we can't afford to keep doing this. Before long our reserves, built up over many years, will be gone.
 
Our Local Government Association friends visited to look at how we are managing all this, and their report will be discussed at an important Cabinet meeting next week. They say, and we agree, that radical action is needed. So we have made 100 changes, including starting to buy homes locally that can then be used as temporary accommodation at a price we can afford.
 
But we also know this isn't just a local problem, it's a national housing crisis. Private landlords are selling up or putting rents up to a level unaffordable for many. It only takes a family to suddenly lose a wage earner for whatever reason, and they are looking at eviction. Social landlords are building more, hundreds here on the Ridge for example, but too slowly for the many facing homelessness this year or next.

Government are dragging their feet too, refusing to increase the Local Housing Allowance, failing to introduce rent controls or an end to no fault (section 21) evictions. They have even removed housing targets from local authorities, so fewer than ever affordable homes are being built nationally.

The town must come together to resolve this, and next week I will set out some of the ways we would like you to help ensure that this happens.