Housing homeless in B&Bs should 'cease', council told

Housing services have been told to stop putting homeless people in bed and breakfast accommodation, a council scrutiny meeting has been told.

There were 255 households in temporary accommodation in Powys, including B&Bs, at the end of December, councillors were told on Friday.

Plaid Cymru's Gary Mitchell asked how long people were staying in temporary accommodation.

Matthew Dorrance, the Labour cabinet member for housing, said he "would like to see us cease using B&Bs as temporary accommodation altogether".

"Temporary accommodation stays really concern me," he added, explaining services had been "challenged" to end the practice.

But to achieve that aim, Dorrance said more of the council's permanent housing stock was being used for temporary accommodation while people's needs are assessed.

"Where possible those [people] are being flipped into secure tenancies," he added.

"The market in Powys for private rented options is limited."

Council housing head Andy Thompson said the average stay in B&Bs was 45 days and "that is coming down".

"We're trying to keep people in accommodation for as short a time as possible," he said.

The council is set to build 421 new council homes by 2031, he explained.

"The more we can build the better, as the root cause of homelessness is lack of housing."

The official added that in Powys "most homeless clients, are single people or couples".

"This means they are impacted by social security limitation, for example the bedroom tax [spare room subsidy] would apply to them, so it's not wise for them to move into larger properties."

Mr Thompson added the council is "hoping" to build its own temporary accommodation, and a trial scheme will be going ahead in north Powys soon in a bid to reduce reliance on B&Bs.

"We are considering buying our own type of B&B for emergency overnight stuff," he said.