Radical rethink on helping the homeless in borough

Under the proposals, due to go before a full meeting of Scarborough Council on Friday, more than £750,000 will be invested in repairing vacant properties along the coast to provide more temporary accommodation for homeless people.

The proposals follow a council report at the end of last year which warned that a growing number of people could be left homeless in Scarborough and Whitby due to proposed cuts in housing benefit which would reduce the amount of money that most private tenants in the borough are entitled to from April, as the Government aims to cut housing benefit expenditure by £2bn in the next two years.

The leader of Scarborough Council, Coun Tom Fox, said: “We recognise that we needed to have a fundamental re-think of the way we approach this.

“It is important that we take a radical look at this in order to minimise the impact of the housing benefit cuts and ensure we still maintain a good service.

“I do have concerns about the impact of the housing benefit cuts.”

The borough council has a legal obligation to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people and up to now this has been tackled by the use of bed and breakfast accommodation and privately leased accommodation.

Changes to housing benefit would mean that single people under 35 would only be paid benefit for a single room in a shared house which would greatly increase the need for shared accommodation and houses in multiple occupation.

Due to the changes, pursuing with its current policy through bed and breakfast accommodation is now deemed by council officers to be too expensive, while restoring its former hostel for homeless people at Scarborough’s Alma Square, once known as Newburn House, which was closed in 2009, would cost an estimated £410,000.

Last year, the council spent £199,000 on providing B&B accommodation and it has been forecast that it will cost about £224,000 this year.