More government funding is needed to fund housing in Newham, a Labour councillor presenting proposals to tackle the borough’s homelessness crisis has insisted.
West Ham councillor John Gray presented the findings of a working group into the temporary accommodation crisis in Newham to a full council meeting yesterday (Monday 14th).
More than 7,300 families at risk of homelessness are currently housed in temporary accommodation by the council, with numbers continuing to rise.
Cllr Gray said it should be the “duty” of the government to make sure people have adequate housing.
He said: “It used to be in this country that governments of all political natures, all political colours, accepted that there was a duty of the state to adequately house all its people. Sadly that duty has gone away.
“What we need to do is argue for that duty to be restored and for us to have the means to be able to not only improve the way we do things but to get more subsidy, spend it wisely and solve the temporary accommodation crisis.”
Councils have a duty to house some people at risk of homelessness if they are deemed vulnerable or have priority need, such as families. However, councils across the country are facing rises in both demand for temporary accommodation and the costs of providing it.
The report said that the number of households in temporary accommodation in Newham had increased by more than 170% since the end of March 2013, and is continuing to grow by around 50 a month.
It also said that the average cost for nightly paid temporary accommodation had risen from £55.18 in May 2023 to £84.77 in March 2025. It said that the council had spent £69.9million on providing temporary accommodation last year.
The report also highlighted the main reason for temporary accommodation being needed was in response to families being evicted by private landlords.
It said this was the same across the country but was “particularly acute in Newham” due to the large numbers of people in private rented housing as well as “levels of overcrowding”.
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The report added that around five in every 1,000 households in Newham were evicted in London between 2023 and 2024. It said this was “not only far higher than the London average but is also a complete outlier when compared to all other London boroughs”.
Councillors on the working group were also told that there was a “growing trend” of landlords re-letting their properties to councils as temporary accommodation “at inflated nightly rates”.
According to the report: “This reduces the availability of stable private rented sector homes, increases costs for local authorities, drives up demand for temporary accommodation, and undermines efforts to prevent homelessness by limiting viable move-on options.”
The report also said that only 5% of housing was affordable for families on universal credit or housing benefit at the local housing allowance rate. This also meant that “prices for temporary accommodation sourced from the private rented sector are soaring”.
The report recommended that the council produce a ten-year plan to manage the temporary accommodation crisis by July 2026.
Cllr Gray said the council should then take this plan to the government to ask for funding.
But Green Party councillor Danny Keeling said private landlords were “cashing in” on the temporary accommodation crisis.
Cllr Keeling said: “While our residents are stuck in mouldy, overcrowded, unsuitable housing, someone is getting rich.
“Private providers are charging us eyewatering nightly rates to warehouse families. We’re spending £69m a year not to solve the crisis but to keep it going.”
They added: “We cannot fix the housing crisis while feeding the people profiting from it.
“Temporary accommodation isn’t a public service any more – it’s a landlord business model and the council is paying the bill. That has to stop.”
Cllr Keeling said councils should instead use public money to buy family homes, bring empty homes into use, and to upgrade current council housing stock.
Councillors voted unanimously to accept the report’s recommendations.
