More than 100 local families were living in hotels in September as the housing crisis hits Haringey hard, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey has seen an “unprecedented increase” in the use of bed and breakfast (B&B) style accommodation to house homeless families amid a collapsing private rental sector.

There were 103 homeless households living in hotels in the borough in September this year, with the high cost of B&B accommodation putting pressure on the council’s already-stretched finances.

B&B accommodation includes any nightly-paid temporary accommodation where there are no cooking facilities or shared cooking or washing facilities – and often means cheap hotel rooms.

A report presented to a meeting of Haringey’s cabinet last month reveals that the civic centre is seeing increases in evictions from the private rented sector, together with more approaches from refugee households and people fleeing domestic abuse.

It comes as the number of landlords quitting London’s temporary accommodation sector jumped by 140% after interest rate hikes pushed up the cost of mortgages.

The report states: “The total expected expenditure of hotels up to 31st January 2024, which includes the last financial year (2022/23) is £3.38million.”

The council has approved the use of £2m of government grant funding to cover the increased costs. But with a projected £20million in-year budget gap and low cash reserves, civic centre chiefs are under growing pressure to prevent the bill from rising further.

Faced with the challenge, cabinet members agreed to set up a “hotelier framework” designed to establish a “compliant flexible procurement process to draw down hotel accommodation when required with fixed rates”.

The council will be able to award contracts valued between £500,000 and £2million, allowing it to respond quickly when it needs to secure large block booking arrangements.

In the longer term, the authority has produced a ‘B&B elimination plan’ aimed at reducing and then ending its use of hotel accommodation by the end of the year.

The plan includes using early intervention to help prevent homelessness and exploring options to bring empty homes at the High Road West regeneration site back into use “to ease immediate pressures”.

There are also proposals to increase the use of one-bedroom council properties as temporary accommodation and prioritise moves from hotels and short-stay hostels.

Further measures include identifying vacant or council-owned buildings that could be used for short or medium-term temporary housing.

Neighbouring Enfield is also seeking to cut the use of B&B accommodation after its spending on hotels soared to £850,000 per month. In a dramatic policy U-turn announced in June, Enfield Council began moving homeless families outside of London and the south-east to areas such as Leeds and Manchester.

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