THURROCK'S lead councillor for housing has praised the borough council's success in drastically reducing the number of homeless people it has had to house outside the borough.

Cllr Luke Spillman has hailed the success of the Council's new homelessness provision strategy which has seen out-of borough temporary housing placement fall by more than two thirds during the first half of the 2021/2022 municipal year.

The housing portfolio holder says: "My number one priority when taking on this role was to supercharge the incredible groundwork put in place by officers and my predecessor, Cllr Barry Johnson, during 2020/2021. Make no mistake, my goal is to achieve zero out-of-borough placements, except when an absolute necessity due to safeguarding concerns (e.g. fleeing domestic violence) before the end of 2022.

"Many families who would previously have been separated from family, friends and support networks, are now being placed within Thurrock. A lot of credit must go to officers. I've set them an extremely tough and rigid target, and they're delivering results way ahead of expected schedules, and saving taxpayers a fortune whilst doing so."

"Once fully implemented the yearly savings to the taxpayer are in the region of £1.8 million. I'm proud to be able to say that cost neutral homelessness service could be just a matter of a few months away.

"I'm delighted to be able to confidently report that we are delivering more people-focused, cost-effective and ethical homelessness services that at any time in the history of this borough."