Prevention of homelessness and reducing demand is vital and needs to be key in Birmingham Councils homelessness strategy.
That means there is still a huge effort needed to tackle the spiralling numbers declaring themselves as homeless, in particular families and placed to live in B&B homeless accommodation, here in Birmingham. We are housing families in temporary B&B hotel accommodation at record numbers and it’s costing us an arm and a leg to do it.
It’s important to put it into context; we can’t afford to let the government think that the problem of homelessness is going away, because in Birmingham it isn’t. It doesn’t take away the case for a lot more affordable permanent housing either. People’s lives, whole families are on hold because they are being temporarily re-housed.
While BCC is building or at least planning to build 500 new homes this coming year, it’s a drop in the ocean, compared to the demand, so continuity is needed, hence Government approval to finance additional affordable homes in coming years.
By the way, what sparked this rant, has been the great news that yet another homeless family I've been dealing with, living in a B&B, have been offered a property in Northfield, great news for everyone.
A BIG THANK YOU TO HOUSING OFFICERS FOR THEIR WORK ON THIS CASE.
No comments:
Post a Comment