Lambeth’s temporary housing crisis costs £14,000 per person towards the private sector

Three quarters of temporary housing occupants in Lambeth are in ‘nightly paid’ accommodation. This is costing the Council £14,000 per year for each person, according to papers released ahead of the Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee that will meet on 16th July.

In total Lambeth has 4,284 households in temporary accommodation. This is higher than nearby Southwark (3,714), Wandsworth (3,368) and Westminster (3,132). Residents are temporarily housed in the private sector.

The Council has a statutory duty to provide accommodation for individuals and families who have a priority need, are legally homeless, and meet certain immigration conditions.

The report ahead of the meeting also shows how 70% of households needing temporary accommodation in Lambeth last month were sent out to a different borough. Croydon, Lewisham, Merton, Bromley, and Southwark are all mentioned as destinations.

This figure is up from 55% in 2019 and continues to increase year on year.

The report suggests a number of strategies for Lambeth to reduce the need for temporary accommodation:

“Longer term lease agreements, re-purposing our own stock for TA, reviewing our allocation policy, and reviewing our approach to discharge into the private rented sector.”

Lambeth is also looking at bringing voids back into public use. These are council houses that have been left abandoned by the Council:

“Working in conjunction with colleagues in Housing Management, we are using voids on our backrunning regeneration estates as temporary accommodation. Over 70 units have been brought back into use for this purpose since February, with more units in the pipeline.”

Some funding has also come from central government. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities funded £14.5m to deliver 60 units of family sized temporary accommodation by March 2026. Lambeth is currently looking for possible sites.

Elsewhere on the agenda and Private Sector Renters are addressed.

The Council claims that the Private Sector Enforcement & Regulations Team is enforcing higher standards in the private rented sector.

The report states that out of 144,985 houses in total across the borough, 48,695 are in the private rented sector. This represents 33.6% of all housing stock.

The report adds that 9,446 Private Rented Sector dwellings in Lambeth are predicted to have a serious home hazard.

Lambeth is keen to roll out a licensing scheme for landlords in the borough. The Selective Licensing will start from September 2024 in four wards. Knights Hill, Streatham Common & Vale, Streatham Hill East and Streatham St Leonards will be the first wards for the trial period.

Private landlords will need to pay the Council £923 for a five year licence. This is broken down as £650 for admin, and £273 for any possible enforcement.

The plan is to roll this out across 19 further wards. Phase 2 of the roll out will cover:

Brixton Acre Lane, Brixton North Ward, Brixton Rush Common, Brixton Windrush, Clapham Common and Abbeville, Clapham East, Clapham Park, Clapham Town, Gipsy Hill, Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction, Kennington, Myatt’s Field, Oval, St Martins, Stockwell East, Stockwell West and Larkhall, Streatham Hill West and Thornton, Streatham Wells and West Dulwich.

Missing is Vauxhall and Waterloo & Southwark.