Lewisham Council is planning to purchase a portfolio of 300 homes. They are doing this as they need emergency accommodation for families in danger of becoming homeless. Housing bosses from the authority are on alert because of a steep rise in issues for local families. As one of the top providers of guaranteed rent Lewisham has, we want to have a closer look at these proposals.

Current plans

Presently, the authority is aiming to create 2,000 new homes to minimise waiting lists. As of April 2022, there were more than 10,200 individuals on these lists. Of that number, over 2,200 were families residing in temporary accommodation. The council intends to begin working on building more council houses by 2026.

However, according to officials, specific homeless accommodation is also necessary. Their hope is that by purchasing houses outright, they can help keep the costs they are spending on emergency accommodation down. They want to lean more towards consistent living standards as well.

We have yet to find out about the total sum Lewisham Council will set aside to fund these purchases. However, the council has said that they would be willing to spend as much as £600,000 on every property.

Lewisham paid more than £143,962 on hotels for homeless in 2022. This is over four times the money they spent on accommodation in 2020/21. The quantity of individuals approaching the authority in danger of becoming homeless has also skyrocketed. It went from 2,833 to 3,723 in two years. As of January 2023, Lewisham Council was housing 2,780 families in temporary homes. This was an increase of nearly 60pc on just over seven years.

The reasons for rising homelessness

The most recurring reason for people becoming homeless in Lewisham during 2022 was relatives or friends asking them to leave. But, a council report states that landlord evictions are increasing too. There continues to be a growing amount of owners deciding to up the rent in line with market prices. It can price people out.

Another major cause is many owners are deciding to no longer rent their buildings out and instead sell off the structures. In 2019/20, this made up 19pc of all the homeless acceptances. It has resulted in an increase to 26pc in 2022/23 (year to date).

If you’re in need of the top services for guaranteed rent Lewisham has, talk to our team. We can make the letting process easier and protect your interests so you don’t need to sell assets.

The report

There was a report presented to Lewisham’s cabinet on March 8th that recommended the purchase of these 300 properties. It read that the supply of social housing was not able to keep pace with demand for it. The quantity of homes available for letting has decreased steadily, falling by 51% since 2015.

The report continues, stating that during the 21/22 fiscal year, they achieved 1,017 social housing lets. This was compared to 10,281 households existing on the housing register. Of these, a mere 196 were given to homeless households. Thus, it is likely that some of those presently on the housing register or in temporary housing will never move to social housing. The council has come to depend heavily on the private rental sector to move households away from temporary accommodation.

There is a lot we can do with guaranteed rent in Lewisham

At Guaranteed Rent, the schemes we offer allow private landlords to help tackle the issue. They can work with the local council to let them use the properties. In return they get a service that takes care of arranging tenancies, property maintenance and management, and more. Most importantly, the rent will be secure with a monthly payment for the full period.

The top services for guaranteed rent in Lewisham work for various kinds of landlords and investors. We even have enough flexibility to work with multiple property types. They include flats, HMOs, and houses. So, if there is anything we can do for you, please let us know.