Former guitar shop to house homeless families

An east London council is to use a former guitar shop to house 55 homeless families amid growing financial pressures.

Havering Council plans to lease Chesham House in Romford and those in need would be able to stay there for between 12 and 24 months.

The council says one of the biggest financial burdens is the cost of temporary accommodation, but it hopes to save £9.7m over the next decade by entering a 10-year lease on the commercial building which has been vacant since the guitar shop closed in October.

Council leader Ray Morgon said using the site would have a "profound and positive" impact on at-risk residents.

According to London Councils, a collective of London local government, residents at risk of ending up on the streets are housed in hotels and bed-and-breakfast-style accommodation, which costs councils millions.

Havering Council, which is run by Havering Residents Association, overspent its budget on accommodation by £6.1m and due to growing pressures, it is facing a £74m budget gap for 2025-26.

Leasing the Chesham House site, which is owned by the National Housing Group, will cost the council £8.4m and a further £6.5m to operate the accommodation.

But, the authority said it would be able to recover the latter figure as service charges paid by its tenants.

Labour councillor Keith Darvill said the accommodation would need to be suitable and there had been plenty of examples where commercial property had not been appropriately converted.

However, he said the situation with temporary accommodation in Havering was a "real mess".

Patrick Odling-Smee, a member of the council's executive leadership team, said the council would rather not be using a commercial property to accommodate homeless families, but various housing challenges had led them to this situation.

Councillors approved the plan at a cabinet meeting on 11 December.

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