Demand for homelessness support rose by 35 per cent in first half of year, council says

Islington’s housing boss hit out at ‘years of underinvestment from central government’

Nearly 1,600 households are in temporary accommodation in Islington, the council has said, as a group of London authorities warn the Treasury about “unsustainable” levels of homelessness.

In February, Islington Council said demand for temporary accommodation “increased by 28 per cent in the last 12 months” as the cost-of-living crisis has left more residents in need of housing support.

This week, the council told the Citizen it currently provides temporary accommodation for 1,575 households.

This follows alarming figures recently released by London Councils, representing the 32 boroughs and the City of London corporation, that the capital’s local authorities have a collective housing budget shortfall of £700 million.

The cross-party group warned the government the housing crisis threatens to “break through” local council budgets.

Cllr Clair Holland, who now chairs the collective, said the outlook was “bleak” and that councils who need investment to tackle homelessness and provide social housing “[face] an unrelenting squeeze on our resources”.

London Councils also warned that a failing local government sector would only make broader economic and fiscal challenges worse.

In Islington, the council’s budget for temporary accommodation in 2024/25 is £20.43 million, but the council now expects to spend an extra £2.25 million due to a 35 per cent increase in demand for homelessness support in the first half of 2024.

Councillor Una O’Halloran, executive member for homes and neighbourhoods, said: “Like all councils we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, while years of underinvestment and damaging housing policy from cental government mean our resources are stretched to the limit.

“We’re doing everything in our power to deliver more safe, decent, genuinely affordable homes in Islington – including building hundreds of new council homes and buying back nearly 300 previously lost through Right to Buy – but it’s a huge challenge.

“We need action from the new government to tackle the homelessness crisis, including a long-term commitment to increasing Local Housing Allowance rates and Homelessness Prevention Grants. We also need more control over how we use the money generated from Right to Buy sales so we can increase the number of council homes more quickly.

“Last month, we joined more than 100 other councils in publishing five solutions to secure the future of council housing. This includes a call for fair, sustainable funding so we can properly maintain and improve existing council homes. We’re committed to working with government to achieve these essential changes.”

A council spokesperson also pointed to its Stacey Street housing scheme, which opened in 2022 to provide accommodation and support for people who have slept rough in the borough.

They claimed the programme had helped reduce the number of people rough sleeping in Islington which, currently at 13, is one of the lowest in central London.

Islington’s Rough Sleeping Initiative obtained £8.1 million to fund important homeless services in 2024, the fifth largest amount for any council in the England.

In its draft homelessness strategy for this year, the Town Hall cited figures from London Councils that estimate one in 50 Londoners are currently in temporary accommodation.