A North London council has approved plans to spend more than £11.5m purchasing 15 properties as it looks for ways to address the ongoing crisis in temporary accommodation.
The local authority said the scheme will “transform the lives” of 15 families by moving them out of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation.
Brent Council’s Cabinet has given the green light to plans to buy properties under the Council Homes Acquisition Programme (CHAP). Part of the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Affordable Homes Programme, CHAP enables councils to take properties out of the private sector and convert them into social rented housing or temporary accommodation for homeless households.
Buying properties from the private sector and bringing them into public ownership will “reduce the cost pressures” of relying on housing residents in the private market, according to the council. However, delays refurbishing the properties or getting them occupied could mean the scheme becomes “financially unviable”.
Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Property, Cllr Teo Benea, described the number of houses set to be purchased as “modest” but claimed they will “transform the lives” of the 15 families who will benefit from them.
Speaking at a recent Cabinet meeting (September 8), Cllr Benea said the scheme will enable those people to move “out of hotels or B&Bs and into proper homes where their children can study, families can work, and stability can begin to return”.
Image: Google
It’s no secret that London is in the midst of a homelessness crisis, with one in 50 Londoners living in temporary accommodation in 2023. In Brent, around 150 families are presenting as homeless to the council every week, with many having to be housed in hotels or B&Bs – often outside the borough.
The local authority has pledged to deliver 5,000 affordable homes across the borough – 1,700 of which will be delivered by the council – by 2028. However, soaring construction costs and regulation changes have had a huge impact on both private developments – which help deliver affordable homes – and the council’s social housing programme, which was paused in July.
The council claims the scheme demonstrates its intention to “confront the crisis head on”, with property acquisitions playing “a vital role” in making sure homes can be provided quickly. Cllr Benea said the acquisitions will “reduce cost pressures of relying on the private market, whilst also ensuring vulnerable families are supported with dignity and respect”.
The Cabinet approved the total budget of £11.7m required for the 15 acquisitions, which is made up of a £1.8m grant from the GLA and a further £9.9m from “prudential borrowing”. The costs include £10.4m to purchase the properties, alongside £750,000 for the refurbishments and £558,750 for staff and contingency costs.
Using the properties as temporary accommodation is likely to make savings of around £15,000 per property per year, according to the council. However, there are risks that the scheme could become financially unviable. If the contracts haven’t been completed by March 31, 2026 then the council will lose the GLA grant or if it takes longer than expected to refurbish and occupy the property then it will become too expensive.
The council came under criticism by Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Paul Lorber, earlier this year over the purchase of a £530,000 house split into two flats, which had sat empty for nearly two years. The council claimed the refurbishment proved “more complex and time-consuming” than anticipated but Cllr Lorber said this should have been identified in the initial survey and called for an investigation into how properties on the private market are purchased.
Following the latest property acquisition approval, Cllr Lorber said: “These kinds of decisions by the Labour Council require detailed scrutiny, because of their past poor record. Brent Labour have already spent over half a million pounds on a Sudbury property, with two flats, which they left empty for two years while local families in urgent need waited for a home.”
He added: “Keeping properties empty in this way is a total waste of money and has become all too common under Labour in Brent. Our residents deserve so much better, particularly those desperate for a decent home.
“Brent Liberal Democrats have long argued that the council should use its planning powers to ensure developers contribute a fair share to provide more council homes. We need many more council homes to be provided for local homeless people.”
