Government grants to tackle spiralling homelessness have been branded “simply inadequate” by a London council leader.
Leader of Labour-run Redbridge, Kam Rai, described the cash announced by Angela Rayner on Wednesday as a “mere drop in the ocean”.
London will receive the bulk of almost £1billion of funding to tackle homelessness, the Deputy Prime Minister said. The capital’s town halls will get almost £80million extra next year and a total of £371million.
Ms Rayner said it would help "break the cycle of spiralling homelessness".
But London boroughs now spend £4million every day on housing a record number of homeless families. The collective average temporary accommodation bill for the capital’s councils was £114million each month in the year to April - a dramatic jump of 68 per cent.
After learning his borough would would receive just over £2.7million extra, Mr Rai said: "We note the £1billion of funding announced today, much of which is recycled, not new.
"While we welcome any funding, the £2.755 million additional Homelessness Prevention Grant is simply inadequate. This is a mere drop in the ocean considering we spent £52million on temporary accommodation last year.
“There is a housing emergency, and it’s fundamentally broken in London. We require radical reform to the rental market so tenants can plan for the longer term and not constantly fear eviction and huge rent rises."
Cross party group London Councils, which represents all 32 boroughs, warned that the capital’s council’s are forecast to overspend on their homelessness budgets this year by £270mllion.
The group is also concerned that the Government is introducing a new restriction on how the Homelessness Prevention Grant can be used with at least 49% having to go on prevention activities and not spent on temporary accommodation provision.
Temporary accommodation currently makes up around 80% of a council’s grant spend.
Claire Holland, chair of London Councils and leader of Lambeth, said: “We welcome the additional support being provided by the government and the increase to homelessness funding is a step in the right direction.
“However, we are concerned about resources for temporary accommodation being squeezed, and this is a key funding pressure in the capital. Overall, boroughs are still grappling with significant shortfalls, making it harder to protect local services.”
Soaring costs of social care and private rents in the capital, alongside a diminishing number of social homes, is pushing some town halls to the brink of bankruptcy and forcing them to seek emergency loans from the Government.
The latest official figures, published earlier this month by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, showed there were 123,100 households in England in temporary accommodation in the three months to the end of June - a rise of 16.3% on the same period the previous year.
London Councils estimates there are 90,000 children in the city living in temporary accommodation, which is equivalent to at least one in every classroom.
Westminster, which sees the highest levels of rough sleeping in the UK, spends £7million a year trying to get people off the streets and welcomed the grant boost.
Leader Adam Hug said: “New people arrive on our pavements daily. The council spends £7million a year on helping rough sleepers, provide hundreds of hostel places every night and our officers are out every night trying to offer help to people on the streets.
“However, that 24/7 operation is one that inevitably puts a strain on our finances.
“The extra investment from Government is hugely welcome and will allow us to keep offering a bridge to a better future for those sleeping rough – whether that is a hostel place, help with addiction problems or skills training to try and return to normal life.”
Ms Rayner, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and minister for homelessness Rushanara Ali visited charity Crisis on Tuesday.
During the visit, the politicians met volunteers and helped pack up donations and supplies in the charity's east London warehouse ahead of its Christmas appeal.
