East Lindsey leaders ‘sad’ they have to specify who will be housed in a resettlement home to avoid speculation

Members of East Lindsey District Council’s (ELDC) executive board have agreed to accept £321,000 in Government funding to secure two temporary accommodation homes for people sleeping rough and one resettlement home for Afghan refugees. The Government money will go towards the £741,000 bill.

But at a meeting on Wednesday, July 1, portfolio holder for the coastal economy Steve Kirk (Conservative – Skegness Scarbrough and Seacroft), was disappointed that the council had to specify who would be staying in the resettlement home in a bid to prevent speculation.

He added: “I’m not going to read it out but it’s sad that the council has to do this nowadays – justify who it’s for and say who it definitely isn’t for – to avoid any sort of racist backlash.

“It’s sad that we have to do that but I totally understand why it’s there. Personally I’d be quite happy if that was totally struck from the report as being unnecessary.

“In my opinion, everybody is deserving of help and support when they need it, irrespective of where they come from, their skin colour, etc.”

Portfolio holder for housing, communities and better ageing William Gray (Conservative – Roughton) went to explain that previous rounds of Government funding have helped the council to reduce the costs of hotel accommodation.

He said: “The Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) has already enabled East Lindsey to bring 23 homes in the council’s ownership – which we didn’t have before – 12 for temporary accommodation to be used by our homelessness service and 11 for resettlement properties.

“This is really to help to reduce reliance on costly bed and breakfast hotel accommodation, and of course, while creating long-term housing assets for this council.”

Coun Gray explained that previous such accommodation has been repurposed to provide support for the homeless in the district once it’s no longer needed for resettlement purposes.

He added: “A total of the eight original resettlement properties which we’ve already funded in the past – and we’ve had funding for in the past – are now used as temporary accommodation to meet that housing need.

“So, no longer is it 12, it’s now 20 properties which we’ve actually got as temporary accommodation in our stock.

“Initially, there was an Afghan cohort in these properties but they’ve now left the area, they’re no longer needed, so we’ve had those additional properties added to our stock.”

Coun Gray added that the council has saved £50,000 over the last three years by not having to house homeless people in bed and breakfast accommodation while the council finds more ‘appropriate’ housing for them.

He said: “We’re having more people coming forward who unfortunately are homeless, that need that adapted accommodation.

“We haven’t got that kind of accommodation and we’re having to lease the accommodation. It’s costing this council money.

“So, by securing this funding, we will increase the number of homes available to meet the local housing need, we’ll improve outcomes for those vulnerable residents and we’ll reduce the ongoing revenue pressure associated with that – the expensive emergency accommodation that I’ve just mentioned.”

ELDC said it estimates the total project to deliver these three properties will cost approximately £741,000 – and because the Government funding is capped at £321,000, the authority is seeking to allocate £420,000 from its general fund to cover the costs.

The council will now put forward its bid to enter round four of the LAHF – and will develop a plan on how this money will be spent and identify suitable buildings for this accommodation.