IN response to the rising cost of having to put homeless people into hotels and hostels, Thurrock Council is implementing a programme that will sit it put more people into private rented accommodation – a move that could save up to £1.6 million a year.

A surge in applications from families, particularly young mothers with children, because private landlords are evicting tenants in order to put up rents has seen a sharp increase in demand for the council – often accompanies by heart-rending stories of people battling mental health pressures as they sofa-surf with friends and family in their bid to find a home.

Some have been shifted to bedsits and flats many miles away from Thurrock.

The council has a legal obligation to offer accommodation to people who have been put on the streets through no fault of their own – and in many instances it has turned to putting them up in hotels like the Premier Inn in West Thurrock.

The authority has acknowledged its own chronic shortage of rented accommodation as it battles rising demand and financial pressure.

At last week's Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, officers said the authority still relies heavily on high-cost nightly lets – but plans to reduce their use by around 100 placements as part of a wider Housing Solutions transformation programme.

The move could save between £1.4million and £1.6million, with the council instead focusing on moving people out of temporary accommodation faster and improving access to the private rented sector.

Demand remains high, with households in temporary accommodation rising sharply from 242 to 657 over five years, while presentations increased by nine per cent last year.

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Although use of nightly lets is beginning to fall and performance has stabilised, officers warned the service is still under significant strain and financial risk.

Councillors raised concerns over whether improvements could be delivered within three to six months. Conservative councillor Qaisar Abbas described the plans as "very ambitious" given ongoing pressures and high rents.

"I believe this is very ambitious to achieve within three to six months given the financial pressure, so how confident are you that you will increase the housing supply and reducing costs when we know rent costs are high," he said.

Anthony Fletcher, director place delivery lead and service implementation said nearly £1million in savings had already been embedded but admitted the current reliance on nightly accommodation was "not cost effective".

He said: One of the savings that was put forward for saving within the Housing Solutions budget last year was £995,000 and this has been imbedded."

There has been a huge surge nationally in families being made homeless and having to sofa-surf because of a chronic lack of social housing.

"We know we need more than our hostels and furnished lets. At the moment we manage this through nightly-lets which is not cost effective so we need to do things differently."

Reform councillor Marion Cherry, also Vice-Chair of the committee, also questioned the legislation surrounding those who live in the borough for just six months and becoming eligible for temporary accommodation.

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"You have people that have been in the borough say 30 to 40 years all their life but they still homeless because they keep getting overtaken. What is being done about this," she said.

In a response, an officer said: "Due it being the legislation we tend to apply that, but what we also look at people who have been in temporary accommodation the longest.

"It is difficult because those who suffer with domestic abuse approach us as well and do not have to have a local connection."

Officers added that longer-term changes aim to make the service more prevention-led, but challenges remain around staffing, caseloads and debt management as the council seeks a more sustainable approach.