Claims council spent over £3,500 a week on accommodation for homeless person

Jessica Evans & Twm Owen – Local democracy reporters

A council has been spending £3,500 a week on accommodation for one homeless person, it has been claimed.

The Gwent councillor responsible for housing, Sarah Burch, has promised to look into the claim and has said the authority is ‘gradually withdrawing’ from block contracts for temporary accommodation.

She also said she is ‘hopeful’ use of bed and breakfast accommodation as temporary housing will be ‘virtually eliminated’ by the end of the 2025/26 financial year which will mean a ‘significant saving’ for Monmouthshire council, which spent £1.5 million on B&Bs last year.

She was pressed over how the county council is tackling homelessness by Conservative councillor Jayne McKenna at its April meeting.

Detail

The Mitchel Troy and Trellech member said: “I have been informed that in recent years the council have been hiring 10 rooms per week at a venue in Monmouthshire, at a cost of £3,500 per week, yet occupancy within the past month has been as low as 10 per cent, so effectively that’s £3,500 a week to house one person, which does raise serious questions about values for money.”

In response Labour cabinet member Cllr Burch said: “I’ll definitely look into the detail of that, we are gradually withdrawing from what I think are sometimes block contracts and gradually withdrawing from some of those arrangements that had been in place previously.”

In the 2024/25 financial year, Cllr Burch said, Monmouthshire had spent £1.5m on B&B accommodation but said this was a reduction from more than £2.1m in 2023. She described those as ‘gross figures’ as some of that spending is recouped through housing benefit.

Temporary

Cllr Burch also said homelessness has been reducing since 2023, when the council introduced its Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan.

“The number of homelessness inquiries I’m pleased to say are now reducing and consequently the numbers needing temporary accommodation including B&B’s have reduced,” Said Cllr Burch

“In April 2023, when the plan was approved there were 94 people in B&B accommodation and this currently stands at 20 which you can see is an improvement and is having financial benefits for the authority.”

In 2022 when the Labour administration came into power in County Hall, Cllr Burch said, there were more than 100 homeless households accommodated in hotels, bed and breakfasts or other temporary accommodation including holiday lets.

She added the council, through its housing options team and other methods, is able to ‘prevent homelessness in the majority of cases’ while the former Severn View care home in Chepstow will be used as temporary accommodation from the end of this month. The council has also purchased homes to be used at temporary accommodation and leases others.

As a result, use of ‘less suitable accommodation’ has reduced, delivering a financial saving to the council while support is also offered to help tenants remain in their homes.