The 64 houses will be turned into temporary accommodation, aimed at residents who are at immediate risk of becoming homeless, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Waltham Forest Council will spend almost £29million on buying more than 60 new homes, in a bid to take the pressure off its housing sector.

The 64 houses will be turned into temporary accommodation, aimed at residents who are at immediate risk of becoming homeless.

The cost of both temporary accommodation is one of the biggest strains on the town hall, alongside social care, which led to the council overspending by £17m last year.

The situation has been called a “significant” housing crisis by council leader Grace Williams.

Top councillors voted to approve the scheme at a cabinet meeting today (3rd June).

Councillor Ahsan Khan, who oversees the housing portfolio, said the pressure of temporary accommodation was “not just financial” as the council knows it “isn’t the best quality of housing for our residents, families and larger households”.

There are currently more than 8,000 people on the council’s housing register, waiting to be allocated a permanent place to live, according to data from February. Around 200 people apply each month and 88% of cases are accepted.

“This will play a part in relieving the increasing pressures of more expensive temporary accommodation such as nightly rate and bed & breakfasts and hotels, which is costly to the council and does not fully meet the housing needs of residents,” acting housing director Joe Garrod said.

In 2022, the council was allocated £15.4m from the Greater London Authority (GLA)’s Affordable Homes Programme to build or purchase 77 social rented homes.

The council will use the remaining £8.6m, alongside a loan of £20m, to pay for the new homes.

The £8.6m was originally earmarked to convert private and socially-rented homes in Marlowe Road and Priory Court, but this proved “unviable,” Cllr Khan added.

The scheme will save the council £6.1m over the next decade.
Cllr Williams called this a “significant” move, at a time when the housing market was at its “most difficult” in 50 years, and said the problems of funding temporary accommodation “will not go away”.

As per an agreement with the GLA, the council will need to buy 40 homes by March next year and the remaining 24 by September. All 64 will be within the borough of Waltham Forest.

The acquisitions will begin “immediately,” according to Joe Garrod.

As part of a similar scheme approved in April, the council will buy 53 new-builds in Hepworth Place, part of the ‘Fellowship Square’ development at the town hall complex, using revenue raised from Right to Buy sales.

It expects to save around £3.5m over the next five years as a result.

At a meeting in February, councillors were warned they would need to make savings of £23m over the next three years in order to avoid effective bankruptcy.

Alongside trimming temporary accommodation spending, the council has also cut jobs internally and reduced council tax support for vulnerable residents.

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