Crawley Borough Council is having to spend a “scary amount” of money on temporary housing.
In 2018-19 the council spent £262,000 helping the homeless. The projected spend for its 2025-26 budget is £8.4 million.
That doesn’t include the £2 million being spent to help people from the Chagos Islands who have arrived at Gatwick Airport.
The figures were shared during a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday evening (5 February).
Minus government funding of £2.87 million, that still leaves a massive £5.53 million “pressure” on the budget – with a third of the council’s spending expected to go on temporary housing.
Councillor Sue Mullins, the cabinet member for community engagement and culture, said: “When we talk about pressures on our budget, that’s one pressure that is really not sustainable.
“Those figures have gone up from a quarter of a million to six million in six years – that’s a scary amount. And what we’re predicting for the future years, I don’t know.
“Something has to happen. Something has to give because I don’t think any council can sustain that sort of pressure on its budget forever.”
Crawley Borough Council leader Michael Jones said that the Home Office had promised the council £2 million to help ease the financial pressure of helping the Chagossians.
The money had not yet arrived but he said: “We look forward to that.”
It’s been almost a year since the council declared a housing emergency, with Councillor Jones writing to six government departments to urge them to take decisive action.
A study from housing and homelessness charity Shelter said that homelessness levels in Crawley were the third highest in the south east.
At the time, Mr Jones said that there had been a “perfect storm” – huge increases in homelessness coupled with a lack of housing supply and the rising costs of renting and buying.
He added: “A roof over people’s heads is a basic human need and it is a tragedy homelessness is happening on this scale.”
A report to the cabinet said: “The council continues to pro-actively lobby government to recognise that the rising demand and cost of homelessness must be fully funded and that the current situation poses a critical risk to the council’s financial resilience as well as the local government sector. “
