New money to help reduce use of B&Bs

Head of the bed and breakfast unit, Ashley
Horsey, has pledged £500,000 to improve the availability of
good quality temporary accommodation to help local authorities
reduce their reliance on B&Bs for homeless families.

Speaking at the first national B&B
conference he promised new “action advice teams” which would go
into local authorities to help them reduce their reliance on bed
and breakfast accommodation.

Horsey said he wanted to consult on targets
for the reduction of B&B use. The unit has just two years to
make significant inroads into the problem, which is particularly
acute in London. Some 7,900 of the 11,340 people in bed and
breakfast accommodation are living in the capital.

Local authority representatives warned that
they were facing an accommodation crisis as the availability of
affordable new homes in the capital has declined and the number of
sales under the right to buy legislation accelerated. And many said
that private landlords – the source of much of the temporary
accommodation available to councils – were choosing not to let to
tenants on housing benefit because of problems with
administration.

Responses to the bed and breakfast
consultation will be accepted until 4 December.