Cllr George Paul

The Scottish Government set up an additional £2 million for local authorities facing the most significant temporary accommodation pressures to support stock activity and provide the required resources.

However, it has been confirmed that West Lothian Council will not be among those to receive the funding.

The council said it is projecting an overspend of £2.542m on homelessness in 2023/24 due, mainly, to the legal requirement to place anyone from anywhere in the UK who presents as homeless in West Lothian into emergency accommodation.

The lack of available properties in West Lothian means the council has to resort to using B&B to meet its legal duties, the council said as it projected that an average of 180 clients per night will be accommodated in B&B/hotels at an average cost of £81 per night. 

The council added: “Other homelessness costs include property storage costs which are directly linked to the increased lengths of stay in temporary accommodation, as well as a change in the demographic presenting as homeless, void rent loss and electricity. The service is seeing an increase in very large families requiring four or more bedrooms, which are in short supply across all housing providers. Tenders have been evaluated and awarded for the homeless transport contracts which have increased in cost by 40%. Costs have also increased due to the increasing number of families presenting as homeless requiring school transport.

“The lack of available properties is caused by high sustainment of tenancies - those who move into a council house tend to stay there with over 96% of new tenants sustaining their tenancy in excess of one year; a significant increase in extensive repairs required through damage to properties and an increase in those leaving private lets looking to the council for a more affordable housing option leading to an extremely high demand for council housing in West Lothian.”

Executive councillor for housing, George Paul, said: “The imbalance between supply and demand for permanent social rented accommodation continues to be a key challenge in West Lothian. There remains a high number of people applying to the council for permanent housing as well as accommodation required for homeless applicants.

“Not only does lack of affordable housing supply result in significant problems for individuals and families, but the financial implications caused by homelessness are severe and take scarce funding away from other critical homeless prevention and support services.

“This position is unsustainable for councils if we are ever going to be allowed to make a difference for the local community in West Lothian. The effort and work of our housing professionals to tackle this issue is incredible and they have left no stone unturned in terms of looking for solutions. Ultimately, our hands are tied and councils in Scotland do not have the means to tackle this issue and without significant change that will continue for the foreseeable future. It’s very disappointing that we’ve not been given a single penny of this Scottish Government funding which would have helped to alleviate this incredibly serious issue.”

Julie Whitelaw, interim head of housing, customer and building services, said: “Unfortunately, we are likely to experience a significant budget pressure for some time to come, and B&B usage will continue to be the largest area of spend and pressure as the large backlog of homeless applicants waiting for permanent accommodation continues to feed increased usage and longer length of stays as well as lack of available bed spaces at an affordable price.

“Demand for homeless services is not expected to fall in any significant way over the next three years as we continue to see the consequences of rising costs of living, increased mortgage costs, higher rent in the private sector and the removal of local connection legislation.

“Over this three-year period, the additional costs to the council are projected to be approximately £5.346m.

“B&B will remain as the largest cost pressure even though it is predicted to fall from its current position, but usage is still forecast to remain above an average of 140 people per night for the next two years unless there is a significant change in either demand and/or the supply of permanent houses for people.

“The cost of procuring B&B rooms is also expected to rise over this period due to inflation. As a result, this means that the service is forecasting significant budget challenges for the next two years, assuming the budget remains the same.

“The costs of procuring and delivering other parts of the homeless service are also expected to rise as inflation remains high.”