The leader of Lichfield District Council has backed calls for the Chancellor to take action to tackle a homelessness and temporary accommodation crisis.
More than 115 local authority leaders have signed a letter warning that the issue is threatening the financial sustainability of local government and the services which vulnerable people rely on.
Among the signatories is Lichfield District Council’s leader, Cllr Doug Pullen.
It comes after an emergency summit on the issue was hosted by the District Councils’ Network
According to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the cost of temporary accommodation to councils reached £1.7billion last year and it is increasing rapidly.
The leaders have called for additional funding for Discretionary Housing Payments and a review of the cap for housing benefit subsidy rate for local authority homelessness placements.
They also want to see action on stimulating housing supply in the private rental sector as well as securing “the long-term funding, flexibility and certainty needed to increase the supply of social housing”.
Hannah Dalton, the District Councils’ Network housing spokesperson, said:
“The fact that 119 council leaders from all political groups have joined up to demand urgent action from the Chancellor on homelessness demonstrates that we are in an emergency situation, right across the country.
“Councils simply do not have the money to cope with this surge of demand for temporary accommodation and without action from Jeremy Hunt they will have no option but to cut services.
“Such is the scale of the problem that some councils will find themselves effectively bankrupt.
“Unless action is taken in the Autumn Statement, society’s most vulnerable people will continue to be hit hardest – the lifeline that their councils offer them will collapse and there will be a knock-on impact on other public services, including the NHS.
“Funding councils’ work properly will prevent homelessness now, easing the need for public services like the NHS to spend huge amounts dealing with the consequences of homelessness in future.”
Hannah Dalton, District Councils’ Network
